Range extension of Diclidurus scutatus (Chiroptera, Emballonuridae) to southwestern Amazonia

Extensão da distribuição de Diclidurus scutatus (Chiroptera, Emballonuridae) para o sudoeste da Amazônia

ABSTRACT

Diclidurus scutatus is an aerial insectivore bat endemic of South America and considered rare throughout its distribution range. We present the first record of this species in Rondônia State, northern Brazil, expanding its distribution more than 1000 km into southwestern Amazonia. Including this record, D. scutatus is known for 20 localities from eight countries (Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela), and two biomes-Amazonia and Atlantic Forest.

KEYWORDS: distribution; lesser ghost bat; western Amazon; Rondônia

RESUMO

Diclidurus scutatus é um morcego insetívoro aéreo, endêmico da América do Sul e considerado raro em toda sua área de distribuição. Apresentamos o primeiro registro dessa espécie para o estado de Rondônia, norte do Brasil, expandindo sua distribuição em mais de 1000 quilômetros para o sudoeste da Amazônia. Incluindo o presente registro, D. scutatus é conhecido para 20 localidades em oito países (Brasil, Colômbia, Equador, Guiana Francesa, Guiana, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela) e dois biomas-Amazônia e Mata Atlântica.

PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Amazônia ocidental; distribuição; morcego; Rondônia

The determination of a taxon’s distribution is important to understand evolutionary and biogeographic processes, and provides information about the ecology and natural history of a species (Whittaker et al. 2005). Studies that contribute to the knowledge of the distributional limits of a species, especially rare ones, are also important for conservation biology initiatives (Teixeira et al. 2014).

The bat genus Diclidurus Wied-Neuwied, 1820 has four species, all endemic to the Neotropics (Simmons 2005). They are insectivorous bats with fast flight ability that forage at great heights in the forest canopy, open areas and above water courses (Kalko et al. 1996; Lim et al. 1999). Diclidurus species are rare in inventories due to the difficulty in capturing the animals using traditional mist-net methodology, and most of their records come from manual capture, collection with firearms, and mist-nets placed in the forest canopy or near foraging areas, such as lampposts (Handley 1976; Dalponte and Aguiar 2009; Escobedo and Velazco 2012; Ferreira et al. 2013).

The lesser ghost bat, Diclidurus scutatusPeters, 1869, is an endemic bat from South America, with widespread occurrence in the Amazon and a single record for the Atlantic Forest in southeastern Brazil (Sodré and Uieda 2006; Escobedo and Velazco 2012). As conventional methods have small capture success for this species, the distribution limits of D. scutatus are not well established (Sampaio et al. 2016). We report the first record of D. scutatus in Rondônia State and present a distribution review of this species.

Bats were sampled between January and February 2014 in forest areas around the locality of Vila Tabajara, Machadinho D’Oeste Municipality, Rondônia State, Brazil (08º56’S, 62º03’W, 82 m). Vila Tabajara is a small village on the margin of the Machado River. The local vegetation is classified as open ombrophilous forest, within the Amazonian domain (IBGE 2012).

On February 5, 2014 a group of bats, easily distinguished due to their white coloration, were seen foraging around a lamppost in an open area nearby the village. The capture of a D. scutatus non-reproductive adult female (Figure 1) happened around 01:45 am using a mist-net (6 x 3 m, 20 mm mesh), which was manually launched on the foraging bats. This specimen was identified according to characters supported by the literature (Jones and Hood 1993; Lim and Engstrom 2001): general white coloration; unicolored ventral fur; forearm 54.2 mm; greatest length of skull 15.0 mm; large palatine foramina that is confluent with posterior palatal emargination; and no space between the premolars (Figure 2). The specimen was incorporated into the mammal collection of São Paulo University [Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo] (MZUSP 35681).

Figure 1
Specimen of Diclidurus scutatus (MZUSP 35681) from Machadinho D’Oeste, Rondônia, Brazil (Credit: Roberto Leonan Morim Novaes). This figure is in color in the electronic version.

Figure 2
Skull (lateral, dorsal, and ventral profiles) and mandible (lateral and dorsal profiles) of Diclidurus scutatus (MZUSP 35681) from Machadinho D’Oeste, Rondônia, Brazil (Credit: José Eduardo Serrano Villavicencio). Scale bar = 10 mm. This figure is in color in the electronic version.

With this record, D. scutatus has been recorded in 20 locations in eight South American countries, in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela (Figure 3, Table 1). Geographical coordinates in Table 1 were recovered directly from the studies used in the distribution review or from the gazetteer available in Gardner (2008). Diclidurus scutatus has now been registered in five Brazilian states: one in the Atlantic Forest (São Paulo) and four in the Amazon (Amapá, Amazonas, Pará and Rondônia). Our record from Rondônia represents the southernmost occurrenc of the species in the Amazon, extending its known distribution range by more than 1000 km in southwestern direction.

Figure 3
Distribution of Diclidurus scutatus (circles), including the type locality (square) and a new record for Machadinho D’Oeste, Rondônia, Brazil (star; this study). For more details, see Table 1. This figure is in color in the electronic version.

Table 1
Locality records for the lesser ghost bat, Diclidurus scutatus.

Map	Locality	Coordinates	Source
1	Laguna Guasacónica, Monagas, Venezuela	09º12’N, 62º40’W	Linares and Rivas (2004)
2	Río Manapiare, San Juan, Amazonas, Venezuela	05º18’N, 66º13’W	Handley (1976)
3	Icabarú, Bolívar, Venezuela	04º20’N, 61º46’W	Handley (1976)
4	Cerro Neblina Base Camp, Amazonas, Venezuela	00º49’N, 66º09’W	Gardner (1988)
5	Cuyuni River, Kartabo Point, Cuyuni-Mazaruni, Guyana	06º23’N, 58º41’W	Escobedo and Velazco (2012)
6	Marurawaunawa Village, UpperTakutu-UpperEssequibo, Guyana	02º45’N, 59º10’W	Escobedo and Velazco (2012)
7	Brokopondo, Brokopondo, Suriname	05º04’N, 54º58’W	Husson (1978)
8	Alalapadu, Suriname	02º19’N, 56º10’W	Escobedo and Velazco (2012)
9	Paracou, Sinammary, French Guiana	05º17’N, 52º55’W	Simmons and Voss (1998)
10	Les Nouragues, Régina, French Guiana	04º05’N, 52º40’W	Brosset and Charles-Dominique (1991)
11	Lower Río Apaporis, Yay Gojes, Colombia	01º13’S, 69º52’W	Escobedo and Velazco (2012)
12	Coca, Orellana, Ecuador	00º28’S, 76º58’W	Albuja (1999)
13	Río Yavari, mouth of Lago Preto, Loreto, Peru	04°03’S, 71°43’W	Escobedo and Velazco (2012)
14	Colônia Torrão, Calçoene, Amapá, Brazil	02º30’N, 50º57’W	Piccinini (1974)
15	Rio Negro, Taracuá, Amazonas, Brazil	00º06’N, 68º28’W	Vieira (1942)
16	Rio Uaupés, Jauareté, Amazonas, Brazil	00º36’N, 69º12’W	Piccinini (1974)
17	Belém, Pará, Brazil (type locality)	01º27’S, 48º29’W	Peters (1869)
18	Rio Tapajós, Piquiatuaba, Santarém, Pará, Brazil	02º34’S, 54º42’W	Escobedo and Velazco (2012)
19	Vila Tabajara, Machadinho D’Oeste, Rondônia, Brazil	08º56’S, 62º03’W	Present study
20	São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil	23º32’S, 46º37’W	Sodré and Uieda (2006)

Diclidurus scutatus is known from only a few records but is unlikely to suffer a fast population decline, considering its wide distribution range and variety of environments occupied (Sampaio et al. 2016). The species is classified as of Least Concern in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (2017).

Our fieldwork efforts support the conclusion of Escobedo and Velazco (2012) in that the application of unusual sampling methodologies in bat surveys, such as active search and manual capture, canopy nets, and acoustic monitoring, are necessary to improve the knowledge about this species.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To the team of JGP Consultoria e Participações Ltda. for the help in fieldwork; to Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) and Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biodiversidade e Biologia Evolutiva (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro - UFRJ) for a master’s scholarship for RLMN; to Programa de Pós-Graduação em Conservação de Fauna (Universidade Federal de São Carlos - UFSCar) and Fundação Parque Zoológico de São Paulo for a master’s scholarship for VCC; to T.S. Teixeira and G. Jacob for the review of the manuscript. J.E.S. Villavicencio photographed the skull of the specimen.

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  Oct-Dec 2017

History

• Received
  01 Mar 2017
• Accepted
  23 July 2017