Phyllostomus discolor (Wagner, 1843)

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 : 76-77

Phyllostomus discolor (Wagner, 1843)

VOUCHER MATERIAL (TOTAL = 6): Isla Muyuy (MUSM 21202–21204), Jenaro Herrera (CEBIO- MAS 106; MUSM 5505, 5917); see table 33 for measurements.

UNVOUCHERED OBSERVATIONS: During the Yavarí Rapid Biological Inventory, one individual of Phyllostomus discolor was captured at Quebrada Buenavista, and two others were captured at Quebrada Limera (Escobedo, 2003).

IDENTIFICATION: Phyllostomus discolor is widely distributed from southern Mexico to northern Paraguay and southern Brazil (Kwiecinski, 2006; Williams and Genoways, 2008; Reid, 2009). This species is easily distinguished from other congeners by having a forearm <70 mm, a calcar shorter than the foot, and small ears (<25 mm, from notch); the sagittal crest is absent or weakly developed, and the first upper and lower incisors are broad (wider than tall) (Kwiecinski, 2006; Williams and Genoways, 2008; López- Baucells et al., 2018). Descriptions and measurements of P. discolor were provided by Felten (1956), Goodwin and Greenhall (1961), Husson (1962, 1978), Power and Tamsitt (1973), Taddei (1975), Swanepoel and Genoways (1979), Willig (1983), Brosset and Charles-Dominique (1990), Lim et al. (2005), Kwiecinski (2006), and Rodríguez-Posada and Sánchez-Palomino (2009).

There is currently some disagreement concerning subspecies in Phyllostomus discolor . Koopman (1994) recognized two: P. d. discolor (South America east of the Andes to northern Paraguay and southern Brazil) and P. d. verrucosus (southern Mexico to northwestern Peru). However, Power and Tamsitt (1973), Simmons and Voss (1998), and Rodríguez-Posada and Sánchez-Palomino (2009) did not recognize subspecies. Both Power and Tamsitt (1973) and Rodríguez-Posada and Sánchez-Palomino (2009) noted that there is no clear morphological distinction between populations on opposite sides of the Andes, and we follow those authors in choosing not to recognize subspecies in P. discolor .

Ascorra et al. (1993) correctly identified their material from Jenaro Herrera as Phyllostomus discolor . All the voucher material we examined from the Yavarí-Ucayali interfluve conforms to previous descriptions of P. discolor , and measurements fall within the range of size variation previously documented for the species.

REMARKS: The only capture of Phyllostomus discolor accompanied by ecological information from our region was in a ground-level mistnet in primary forest at Jenaro Herrera. No roosting groups of this species were encountered during our study.