Pteronotus portoricensis
Creators: name: Don E. Wilson
name: Russell A. Mittermeier
Publisher: name: Lynx Edicions
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Chiroptera
Mormoopidae
Pteronotus
Pteronotus portoricensis

description: 12.
Puerto Rican Common Mustached Bat
Pteronotus portoricensis
French: Ptéronote de Porto Rico / German: Puerto-Rico-Schnurrbartfledermaus / Spanish: Pteronotus de Puerto Rico
Other common names: Puerto Rican Mustached Bat
Taxonomy. Chilonycteris portoricensis G. S. Miller, 1902,
“cave near Pueblo Viejo [= Cueva di Fari],” Puerto Rico.
Pteronotus portoricensis was formerly classified as a subspecies of P. parnellii, but here it is considered a distinct species. Monotypic.
Distribution. Puerto Rico and Mona I.
Descriptive notes. Head-body ¢.58-69 mm, tail 13-22 mm, ear 16-25 mm, hindfoot 8-13 mm, forearm 50-54 mm; weight 11-3-14-3 g. The Puerto Rican Common Mustached Bat is slightly smaller than Parnell’s Common Mustached Bat (P. parnelli) in external and cranialsizes; skull rostrum is also proportionally shorter. Condylo-basal lengths are 17-18 mm. Fur color does not differ from the other Antillean species of common mustached bats; dorsal hairs are generally tricolored, dark brown on bases and tips, grading to paler central zone, and ventral fur is dark brown with whitish tips. Individuals inhabiting Mona Island are smaller than the main population from Puerto Rico. Additional external and cranial features shared with other species in the subgenus Phyllodia are listed in descriptive notes for Parnell’s Common Mustached Bat.
Habitat. Rainforests to forage and humid hot caves to roost.
Food and Feeding. The Puerto Rican Common Mustached Bat feeds on several groups of insects, particularly coleopterans, lepidopterans, hymenopterans, hemipterans, and dipterans. It has the broadest diet among species of mormoopids in Puerto Rico.
Breeding. Pregnant Puerto Rican Common Mustached Bats have been captured as late as August (presumably also found earlier in the year), and lactating females and a maternity colony have been reported in late November.
Activity patterns. Puerto Rican Common Mustached Bats become active early in the evening, usually near sunset. They typically leave caves after Sooty Mustached Bats (P. quadridens) but before Antillean Ghost-faced Bats (Mormoops blainvillei). Echolocation calls during search phase are long CF-FM pulses of ¢.22 milliseconds, with up to four harmonics. The CF segment in second harmonic, which contains the most energy, is c.61-3 kHz.
Movements, Home range and Social organization. Puerto Rican Common Mustached Bats form colonies of a few thousand individuals in hot caves where air temperatureis higher than 30°C. They are found roosting in association with other mormoopids and also phyllostomids, particularly Leach’s Single-leaf Bat (Monophyllus redmani) and the Jamaican Fruit-eating Bat (Artibeus jamaicensis). Fluctuations in colony sizes of Puerto Rican Common Mustached Bats have been observed at different times of the year.
Status and Conservation. Not assessed on The IUCN Red List. The Puerto Rican Common Mustached Bat is included under Parnell’s Common Mustached Bat, which is classified as Least Concern. It is not particularly abundant compared with other species of mormoopids in Puerto Rico.
Bibliography. Gannon et al. (2005), Jennings et al. (2004), Pavan & Marroig (2016), Rodriguez-Duran & Padilla-Rodriguez (2010), Rolfe & Kurta (2012), Smith (1972).
description: Published as part of Don E. Wilson & Russell A. Mittermeier, 2019, Mormoopidae, pp. 424-443 in Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 9 Bats, Barcelona :Lynx Edicions on page 441, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6419781