Phyllostomus elongatus (E. Geoffroy)

Simmons, Nancy B. & Voss, Robert S., 1998, The mammals of Paracou, French Guiana, a Neotropical lowland rainforest fauna. Part 1, Bats, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 237, pp. 1-219 : 86

Phyllostomus elongatus (E. Geoffroy)

VOUCHER MATERIAL: 14 females (AMNH *266051, *266055, *266058, *266062, *266063, *266064, *266067, *266068, *267152, *267897; MNHN *1995.1082, *1995.1083, *1995.1084, *1995.1085) and 12 males (AMNH *266050, *266052, *266053, *266054, *266065, *266066, *266069, *267127; MNHN *1995.1086, *1995.1087, *1995.1088, *1995.1089); see table 28 for measurements.

IDENTIFICATION: Descriptions and measurements of Phyllostomus elongatus from the Guianas and elsewhere were provided by Husson (1962, 1978), Hill (1964), Swanepoel and Genoways (1979), Brosset and Charles­Dominique (1990), and Anderson (1997). No subspecies are currently recognized (Koopman, 1994).

Our material from Paracou agrees in all respects with previous descriptions of Phyllostomus elongatus . Like other conspecific material from the Guiana region, our specimens fall near the upper end of the known range of size variation for P. elongatus .

FIELD OBSERVATIONS: We recorded 162 captures (probably including some recaptures) of Phyllostomus elongatus at Paracou. One hundred fifty­nine captures were in ground­level mistnets, 9 one was in a mistnet suspended 13–16 m above a narrow dirt road, and two were at roosts. Seventy­four of the ground­level mistnet captures were in well­drained primary forest, 45 were in swampy primary forest, 27 were in creekside primary forest, 1 was in a natural treefall opening in primary forest, 7 were in manmade clearings, and 5 were in closed­canopy secondary growth. The two bats taken at roosts were both solitary males; one was collected from a tree cavity with a single large opening about 5 m above the ground (fig. 26), the other from the central shaft of a hol­

low tree with a large lower entrance at ground level and second smaller aperture ca. 15–20 m farther up the trunk (this roost was shared with Saccopteryx bilineata and Carollia perspicillata ). Both roosts were in welldrained primary forest.

By contrast with the multiple elevatedmistnet captures we recorded for Phyllostomus discolor and P. hastatus (see above and below), the almost complete absence of P. elongatus in nets suspended more than a few meters above the ground is noteworthy.