Saccopteryx leptura (Schreber, 1774)

Velazco, Paúl M., Voss, Robert S., Fleck, David W. & Simmons, Nancy B., 2021, Mammalian Diversity And Matses Ethnomammalogy In Amazonian Peru Part 4: Bats, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2021 (451), pp. 1-201 : 26-27

Saccopteryx leptura (Schreber, 1774)

Figure 7B

VOUCHER MATERIAL (TOTAL = 23): Estación Biológica Madre Selva (MUSM 30910), Jenaro Herrera (CEBIOMAS 88; MUSM 864, 5534, 6964, 6975), Nuevo San Juan (AMNH 272722, 272723, 272865, 273101, 273105, 273136, 273167, 273171; MUSM 13257–13259, 15272–15276), Quebrada Lobo (MUSA 15125); see table 10 for measurements.

UNVOUCHERED OBSERVATIONS: An unspecified number of individuals of Saccopteryx leptura were observed at Quebrada Pobreza during the Tapiche-Blanco Rapid Biological Inventory (Escobedo-Torres, 2015). Saccopteryx leptura was also recorded using acoustic methods during the CEBIO bat course at Jenaro Herrera.

IDENTIFICATION: Saccopteryx leptura can be distinguished from other congeneric species by

TABLE 11

Roosting Groups of Saccopteryx leptura Observed near Nuevo San Juan

the following combination of characteristics: dorsal pelage uniformly brown, paired dorsal stripes usually distinct and beige or yellowish in color, forearm> 36 mm; maxillary toothrow> 5 mm; greatest width across molars (M3–M3) usually> 6 mm (Emmons and Feer, 1997; Hood and Gardner, 2008; López-Baucells et al., 2018). Descriptions and measurements of S. leptura were provided by Sanborn (1937), Goodwin and Greenhall (1961), Husson (1962, 1978), Brosset and Charles-Dominique (1990), Jones and Hood (1993), Simmons and Voss (1998), Yancey et al. (1998b), Nogueira et al. (2002), Lim et al. (2005), and Garbino (2011). No subspecies are currently recognized (Simmons, 2005; Hood and Gardner, 2008).

Ascorra et al. (1993), Fleck et al. (2002), and Medina et al. (2015) correctly identified their material from Jenaro Herrera, Nuevo San Juan, and Quebrada Lobo, respectively, as Saccopteryx leptura . The voucher material from the Yavarí- Ucayali interfluve conforms to previous descriptions of the species, and measurements fall within the range of size variation previously documented for the species.

REMARKS: Several captures of Saccopteryx leptura from our region are unaccompanied by ecological information, but one specimen from Jenaro Herrera was taken in a ground-level mistnet in a clearing, and another is said to have been collected 1.5 m above the ground as it roosted on a palm ( Bactris sp. ) frond in primary forest. All our specimens from Nuevo San Juan were collected at roosts (table 11), usually in shaded but exposed situations on standing trees; exceptionally, one roosting group was found beneath an unmodified leaf of the giant herb Phenakospermum guyannense (Strelitziaceae) . Three roosts at this locality were in well-drained (hilltop or hillside) primary forest, three others were in seasonally flooded forest, and two were in old secondary vegetation; recorded heights of roosting groups were 2–8 m above the ground. Saccopteryx leptura was not found roosting with any other bat species near Nuevo San Juan.

Most of the roosts of Saccopteryx leptura that we found near Nuevo San Juan correspond closely to those previously reported elsewhere (e.g., by Bradbury and Emmons, 1974; Simmons and Voss, 1998). In general, these can be characterized as shallow, vertically oriented concavities that are better illuminated than those typically occupied by its sympatric congener S. bilineata ; unlike Rhynchonycteris naso , which also roosts in exposed situations on standing trees, Saccopteryx leptura is not known to roost over water.

Figures

FIG. 7. Photographs of A, an adult female (ROM 122081) Saccopteryx bilineata and B, an adult male (ROM 122160) S. leptura, both captured at Jenaro Herrera. Photographs by Burton Lim.