Natalus jamaicensis
Creators: name: Don E. Wilson
name: Russell A. Mittermeier
Publisher: name: Lynx Edicions
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Chiroptera
Natalidae
Natalus
Natalus jamaicensis

description: 6.
Jamaican Greater Funnel-eared Bat
Natalus jamaicensis
French: Natalide de Jamaique / German: GrolRes Jamaika-Trichterohr / Spanish: Natalido de Jamaica
Taxonomy. Natalus major jamaicensis G. G. Goodwin, 1959,
“St. Clair, St. Catherine Parish, Jamaica, British West Indies.”
This species is monotypic.
Distribution. Known only from type locality In Jamaica.
Descriptive notes. Head—body 51-52 mm, tail 57-58 mm, ear 15-3-19-1 mm, forearm 44-47 mm (males) and 44-6— 47 mm (females); weight 5:9-6-7 g (males) and 6-8-7-3 g (females). Pelage is dense and long. Dorsal hairs are bicolored; hair bases are buff, and tips are sepia to tawny olive; ventral pelage is slightly bicolored, with buff bases and pinkish-buff tips, rarely unicolored. There are dense mustache-like hair tufts along lateral margins of upper lip and on dorsum of muzzle; dense, lax, irregularly arranged, and ventrally curved hairs form mustache. Medial ear margin is straight; lateral ear margins are deeply concave; there are 5-6 ear pleats; pinna have markedly pointed tip. Natalid organ of males is relatively flat, elliptical to wedge-shaped, and extends onto crown. Wings are relatively broad and attached to tibia above ankle; free margin of uropatagium has sparse fringe of thin hairs; ungual tufts are absent. It has distinctively shaped skull, especially markedly inflated braincase, rising abruptly above rostrum, and postorbital region of skull in dorsal view with sides nearly parallel. Premaxilla is not inflated; maxilla dorsal to molars is convex and not inflated; palate is present between pterygoids; caudal margins of maxilla in ventral view form acute angle with longitudinal axis of skull; basisphenoid pits are shallow; mesostylar crest on third molar is absent. Karyotype is 2n = 36.
Habitat. Secondary semideciduous forest at an elevation of 100 m. The Jamaican Greater Funnel-eared Bat is known from a single cave, St. Clair Cave, St. Catherine Parish, Jamaica. In the cave, it has been found at the entrance of a hot passage through which a permanent stream runs and in a protected lateral recess 3-7 m above the floor of the hot passage.
Food and Feeding. There is no specific information available for this species, but the Jamaican Greater Funnel-eared Bat is certainly insectivorous.
Breeding. Twenty-five female Jamaican Greater Funnel-eared Bats captured in July and December did not show signs of reproductive activity.
Activity patterns. TheJamaican Greater Funnel-eared Bat emerges after sunset and has intermittent foraging bouts extending until daybreak. Its flight has been described as fluttery and moth-like. It dehydrates very rapidly when taken outside ofits roost cave.
Movements, Home range and Social organization. Jamaican Greater Funnel-eared Bats usually roost hanging from a single foot and keep a distance between each other of c¢. 10 cm. Nine other bat species have been found in St. Clair Cave. The Jamaican Greater Funnel-eared Bat seems to roost only with the Caribbean Lesser Funnel-eared Bat (Chilonatalus micropus) but forms separate groups, with the formerin the first 50 m of the hot passage and the latter replacing it further into the hot section.
Status and Conservation. Classified as Critically Endangered on The IUCN Red List. The Jamaican Greater Funnel-eared Bat might be one of the world’s mammals at greatest risk of extinction. Although it has been intensively collected and is represented in museums by at least 78 specimens,its population size appears to be very small. Observers have usually found it to be the rarest ofJamaican bats, and the only estimate reported c.50 individuals, alarmingly low. The only known roostsite, St. Clair Cave, receives no form ofofficial protection and is open to unregulated human visitation. The cave also has a resident population of feral cats that feed on the cave’s bats. Because the last known survey of St. Clair Cave in 2001 failed to detect the Jamaican Greater Funneleared Bat, immediate efforts are needed to understand its current status to formulate a plan forits protection.
Bibliography. Davalos & Eriksson (2003), Genoways et al. (2005), Goodwin (1959b, 1970), Hoyt & Baker (1980), McFarlane (1997), Miller (1902a), Tejedor (2011), Tejedor, Tavares & Rodriguez-Hernandez (2005), Tejedor, Tavares & Silva (2005).
description: Published as part of Don E. Wilson & Russell A. Mittermeier, 2019, Natalidae, pp. 589-596 in Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 9 Bats, Barcelona :Lynx Edicions on page 593, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6811090