Noctilionidae Gray, 1821

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 : 27-29

Family Noctilionidae Gray, 1821

The Neotropical family Noctilionidae (commonly known as bulldog bats) includes the sin-

TABLE 12

External and Craniodental Measurements (mm) and Weights (g) of Noctilio albiventris

from the Yavarí-Ucayali Interfluve

gle genus Noctilio (Simmons, 2005; Gardner, 2008a; Simmons and Cirranello, 2020). Bulldog bats are characterized by a large number of distinctive traits including pointed and well-separated ears; a tragus with a bifurcated tip; nares that open anteriorly from a well-developed rhinarium that projects anteriorly beyond the lower lip; a chin with well-developed cross ridges of skin; buccal cheek pouches; an upper lip divided by two vertical grooves, one on each side of a prominent median ridge that extends from the rhinarium to the mouth; a tail that is approximately as long as the femur, with a terminal portion that projects above the much longer uropatagium; absence of incisive foramina; and a pair of large foramina in the posterior nasal region below the forehead (Simmons and Voss, 1998; Simmons and Conway, 2001; Gardner, 2008a; López-Baucells et al., 2018).

Two species of Noctilio are currently recognized, each containing several subspecies (Hood and Pitocchelli, 1983; Hood and Jones, 1984; Simmons, 2005; Gardner, 2008a). Molecular studies have confirmed monophyly of N. leporinus , but the same studies have conclusively demonstrated that N. albiventris (as traditionally recognized) is paraphyletic (Lewis-Oritt et al., 2001; Pavan et al., 2013; Khan et al., 2014). Patterns of variation in mtDNA gene sequences (cyt b and COI) indicate deep divergences among at least four lineages of N. albiventris (Lewis-Oritt et al., 2001; Pavan et al., 2013; Khan et al., 2014), but relationships among these groups remain ambiguous, and conflicting data from AFLP nuclear loci, zinc-finger Y, and zinc-finger X sequences have been interpreted as indicative of ongoing hybridization among lineages (Khan et al., 2014). Additional confusion has stemmed from an apparent genome-capture event involving the acquisition of an early-diverging N. leporinus mtDNA genome by a lineage of N. albiventris (see Khan et al., 2014). Due to the complexity of interpreting conflicting results from different genes, samples, and analytic methods; evidence of ongoing gene flow among populations; lack of evidence of ecological differences among lineages; and lack of comprehensive morphological analyses, no taxonomic changes have been made to date. In the most recent review of the genus, Khan et al. (2014) chose to recognize the lineages traditionally referred to N. albiventris as subspecies, despite the fact that the species

TABLE 13

Subspecific and Clade Composition of Noctilio albiventris

thus composed is not monophyletic. Although we generally agree with Khan et al. (2014), our review of specimens of the N. albiventris complex suggests that a revised subspecific classification is required, but to reassess and delimit the ranges of the subspecies will requiere a comprehensive revision including a denser geographic sampling and data from additional mitochondrial and nuclear markers.