Phyllostomus elongatus

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 : 77

Phyllostomus elongatus

(É. Geoffroy St.-Hilaire, 1810)

Figure 19A

VOUCHER MATERIAL (TOTAL = 24): Estación Biológica Madre Selva (MUSM 32148), Jenaro Herrera (MUSM 5494, 5530), Nuevo San Juan (AMNH 272679, 272680, 272762, 272763, 272804, 273103, 273120, 273195; MUSM 13232– 13236, 15253–15255), Quebrada Blanco (MUSM 21205), Quebrada Esperanza (FMNH 89041, 89042, 89150), Quebrada Pantaleón (MUSA 15259); see table 34 for measurements.

UNVOUCHERED OBSERVATIONS: During the Yavarí Rapid Biological Inventory, one individual of Phyllostomus elongatus was captured at Quebrada Buenavista, and two individuals were captured at Quebrada Curacinha (Escobedo, 2003). An unspecified number of individuals of P. elongatus were also captured at Anguila and Wiswincho during the Tapiche-Blanco Rapid Biological Inventory (Escobedo-Torres, 2015).

IDENTIFICATION: Phyllostomus elongatus is easily distinguished from other congeners by the following combination of characteristics: medium size (forearm 61–75 mm, greatest length of skull 29–35 mm); bicolored dorsal fur; ventral fur dark with no frosting; plagiopatagium attached to the ankle; wings with white tips; calcar equal to or longer than foot; ear length (from notch)> 25 mm; tibia> 24 mm; and sagittal crest well developed (Williams and Genoways, 2008; Rodríguez-Posada and Sánchez-Palomino, 2009; López-Baucells et al., 2018). Descriptions and measurements of P. elongatus were provided by Husson (1962, 1978), Swanepoel and Genoways (1979), Brosset and Charles-Dominique (1990), Simmons and Voss (1998), Lim et al. (2005), Rodríguez-Posada and Sánchez-Palomino (2009), and Novaes et al. (2014). No subspecies are currently recognized (Williams and Genoways, 2008; Rodríguez-Posada and Sánchez-Palomino, 2009).

Ascorra et al. (1993), Ceballos-Bendezú (1968), Fleck et al. (2002), and Medina et al. (2015) correctly identified their specimens from Jenaro Herrera, Quebrada Esperanza, Nuevo San Juan, and Quebrada Pantaleón, respectively, as Phyllostomus elongatus . The voucher material we examined from the Yavarí-Ucayali interfluve conforms to previous descriptions of P. elongatus , with measurements that fall within the range of size variation previously documented for the species.

REMARKS: All the nocturnal captures of Phyllostomus elongatus accompanied by ecological data from our region (N = 29) were in groundlevel mistnets. Of these, 20 were in primary forest, 3 were in secondary vegetation, and 6 were in a palm swamp (aguajal). We found five roosts of this species near Nuevo San Juan (table 35), usually in the rotted-out central cavities of large standing trees, but once beneath an undercut stream bank; recorded heights of roosting groups ranged from ground level to 4 m above the ground. Four roosts were in primary upland forest, and one was in seasonally flooded forest. Two roosts contained only P. elongatus , one was shared with P. hastatus , another with Carollia perspicillata , and one was shared with an unidentified species that evaded capture.

Our observation of Phyllostomus elongatus roosting beneath an undercut stream bank is unique; all other reported natural roosts of this widespread species suggest that, in caveless landscapes, this species roosts almost exclusively in hollow trees (Tuttle, 1970; Ibáñez, 1981; Simmons and Voss, 1998; Aguirre et al., 2003; Shapley et al., 2005; Díaz and Linares García, 2012).

Figures

FIG. 19. Photographs of A, an adult Phyllostomus elongatus captured at Quebrada Blanco; and B, an adult female (ROM 122132) P. hastatus captured at Jenaro Herrera. Photographs by Marco Tschapka (A) and Burton Lim (B).