This document may be used, with this header included, for noncommercial purposes within a subscribed institution . No copies of this work may be distributed electronically outside of the subscribed institution, in whole or in part, without written permission from the JHU Press . The above two species are closely related and may represent a single species. A third species, P. vetus, is known only as a fossil from Cuba. Head and body length is about 48 mm, there is no external tail, and forearm length is about 39-45 mm.
Coloration is dark brown or grayish.
Externally this genus resembles Artibeus, but it differs from it and other related genera in cranial and dental features. P. falcatus occasionally enters houses, and P. haitiensis has been obtained in a house in a town, as well as while sleeping in mango trees. The diet is thought to consist mainly of fruit.