Noteworthy Records of Bats from Peru

Peru has one of the richest faunas of volant vertebrates of any country with over 1,680 species of birds (Parker et al., 1982) and 122 species of bats (Koopman, 1978). Herein we record six species of bats previously unknown from Peru. These, plus the two species reported new for the nation by Bowles et al. (1979) and the change in status of coastal Sturnira lilium (=Sturnira luisi, Davis, 1981), bring the total number of chiropteran species for Peru to 131. We provided information on the new records and noteworthy distributional and natural history observations on several other species of bats to augment reports by Tuttle (1970) and Koopman (1978). Selected measurements, taken from standard skin and skull specimens unless otherwise indicated, are recorded in millimeters (weights in grams) and include the following: greatest length of skull (GSL), condylobasal length (CBL), zygomatic breadth (ZB), length of forearm (including wrist, FA), and weight (WT). Skulls were extracted from some fluid preparations to verify identification. Specimens are housed in the Louisiana State University Museum of Zoology (LSUMZ) unless otherwise noted. Mormoops megalophylla Peters.-Our specimens (one male and four nulliparous females) were netted in June and October 1978, over a cattail-bordered water impoundment 12 km N Olmos (5?55'S, 79?47'W, elevation ca. 150 m) and a small pond 5.2 km N Olmos along the Pan American Highway in the department of Lambayeque. Although most of this arid coastal zone of northwestern Peru is overgrazed desert with scattered Acacia and Prosopis trees, orchards and large patches of Acacia forest occur in irrigated areas. Small ranges of rocky mountains are less than 10 km W. of the collecting sites. These specimens represent the first record of bats of this genus from Peru and extend the range of the species 600 km S from NW Ecuador (Smith, 1972). Mean (range) of selected measurements are: CBL, 15.2 (14.9-15.5); ZB, 9.8 (9.6-9.9); FA, 57.4 (56.7-58.3); and WT 16.6 (15.0-20.0). These agree with the measurements for M. m. carteri, a subspecies that is not sexually dimorphic (Smith, 1972). Other bat species taken at or near these localities include Pteronotus davyi, Phyllostomus discolor, Nyctinomops macrotis, Nyctinomops laticaudatus, and Eumops glaucinus. Glossophaga commissarisi Gardner.-The Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collection has a male collected October 1974 from Iquitos in the department of Loreto and a female collected August 1964 from 11 km SE Pucallpa in the department of Ucayali (formerly part of Loreto). The presence of Glossophaga commissarisi in Peru was expected since it had been reported from an island in the Amazon River 30 km NW Leticia in southern Colombia near the Peruvian border (Webster and Jones, 1983). Selected measurements for the male and female (GSL 20.3, 20.6; and FA, 35.1, 34.6) agree with those given by Webster and Jones (1983) for the Colombian specimens. The female was carrying an embryo with a crown-rump length of 12. Lonchophylla handleyi Hill.-Koopman (1978) considered this bat, then known as Lonchophylla robusta, to be an Amazonian lowland species because all Peruvian specimens had been collected below ca. 900 m. Two of our specimens, nulliparous females, were netted August 1977 with a Vampyrodes caraccioli at ca. 1,525 m in upper montane rainforest 3 km NE Abra Divisoria on the Tingo Maria-Pucallpa road (906'S, 75'47'W) in the department of Ucayali. A male (testes 7 by 6) was taken in October 1978 from the wall of a cave in upper montane rainforest ca. 10 trail km SE La Peca (5036'S, 78'17'W) at 1,325 m in the department of Amazonas. Other bats collected in this cave were Chrotopterus auritus (a male, the third locality record for Peru), Desmodus rotundus, and Diphylla ecaudata. Lonchophylla robusta Miller.-Hill (1981) recently studied the large, pale brown Peruvian and Ecuadorian members of this genus and assigned Peruvian specimens (formerly recognized as Lonchophylla robusta) to a new species, Lonchophylla handleyi. However, two of our specimens from the department of Amazonas agree with Hill's (1981) diagnosis of Lonchophylla robusta both in mensural characters and by the absence of a sparse fringe of hair along the posterior margin of the uropatagium. These specimens, a male collected 20 km SW Chiriaco on 16 December 1974 and a female taken 43 km (by road) NE Chiriaco 709 November 1984