First record of Histiotus laephotis Thomas (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae) from Brazil

Primeiro registro de Histiotus laephotis Thomas (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae) no Brasil

SCIENTIFIC COMUNICATION

First record of Histiotus laephotis Thomas (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae) from Brazil¹

Primeiro registro de Histiotus laephotis Thomas (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae) no Brasil

João M. D. Miranda; Maria F. M. Azevedo-Barros; Fernando C. Passos

Laboratório de Biodiversidade, Conservação e Ecologia de Animais Silvestres, Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Paraná. Caixa Postal 19020, 81531-980 Curitiba, Paraná, Brasil. E-mail: [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail]

ABSTRACT

The first record of Histiotus laephotis Thomas, 1916 from Brazil is reported here. An adult male was caught with a mist net in a barn located within an Araucaria pine forest in the municipality of Passos Maia, State of Santa Catarina, Southern Brazil (26º46'48"S and 52º03'34"W). This record extends the distribution of this species in South America. Morphological and taxonomic notes of this species are described as well.

Key words: Atlantic Forest; geographic distribution; Histiotus macrotus laephotis.

RESUMO

O primeiro registro de Histiotus laephotis Thomas, 1916 o Brasil é aqui reportado. Um macho adulto foi coletado com rede de neblina (em abrigo artificial) nos domínios da Floresta com Araucária, no Município de Passos Maia, Estado de Santa Catarina, Sul do Brasil (26º46'48"S e 52º03'34"W). Este registro amplia a distribuição da própria espécie na América do Sul. Aspectos morfológicos e taxonômicos desta espécie são também descritos.

Palavras-chave: Distribuição geográfica; Floresta Atlântica; Histiotus macrotus laephotis.

The genus Histiotus Gervais, 1856 is composed by medium-sized bats (ACOSTA y LARA 1950, NOWAK 1994) characterized by an inflated muzzle and very developed ears (BARQUEZ et al. 1999). Histiotus has an exclusively neotropical distribution (CABRERA 1957, BARQUEZ 2006), and its species tend to be rare (NOWAK 1994, MIRANDA et al. 2006). According to the latest review (SIMMONS 2005), seven valid species are recognized for this genus: Histiotus alienus Thomas, 1916, H. humboldti Handley, 1996, H. laephotis, H. macrotus, H. magelanicus (Philippi, 1866), H. montanus (Philippi & Landbeck, 1861) and H. velatus (I. Geoffroy, 1824). Since H. laephotis was first described by THOMAS (1916), its taxonomic status is quite confusing (BARQUEZ et al. 1999, BARQUEZ & DÍAZ 2001, BARQUEZ 2006). Although this taxon has already been placed as a subspecies of H. montanus (ANDERSON 1997), it has been most commonly considered as a H. macrotus subspecies (CABRERA 1957, KOOPMAN 1993, BARQUEZ et al. 1991, 1999). Recent studies have considered H. laephotis as a full species (BARQUEZ & DÍAZ 2001, SIMMONS 2005, BARQUEZ 2006).

Histiotus laephotis ranges from south of Bolivia and Peru to northwestern Argentina, Chile and Paraguay (CABRERA 1957, KOOPMAN 1993, ANDERSON 1997, LÓPEZ-GONZÁLEZ et al. 1998, BARQUEZ et al. 1999, SIMMONS 2005, ACOSTA & VENEGAS 2006, BARQUEZ 2006), although the extent of the distribution is still unclear (ANDERSON 1997, BARQUEZ et al. 1999) (Fig. 1). It appears to be restricted to mountainous or temperate regions (EMMONS & FEER 1997), occurring in altitudes from 240 to 3686 meters above sea level (LÓPEZ-GONZÁLEZ et al. 1998, ACOSTA & VENEGAS 2006). No published record of H. laephotis in Brazil is currently available in the literature (PERACCHI et al. 2006).

The present record was obtained during a survey of the mastofauna of the Municipality of Passos Maia, northwest of the State of Santa Catarina, Southern Brazil (26º46'48"S and 52º03'34"W) (Fig. 1). The region belongs to the domain of the lato sensu Atlantic Forest, more specifically in Araucaria Pine Forest (= Mixed Ombrophilous Forest) (KLEIN 1978). According to Köeppen's classification, the climate in the region is Cfb (temperate) (CHEREM et al. 2004), with an altitude ranging from 850 to 1062 m above sea level.

This study is the first record of H. laephotis in Brazil, extending the distribution of the species eastward by more than 800 km (Fig. 1). In addition, the record of this species in the domain of the Atlantic Rainforest (in an Araucaria pine forest) had not previously been reported (MARINHO-FILHO 1996, EMMONS & FEER 1997, BARQUEZ et al. 1999).

The taxonomic determination of the specimen in question was aided using the key for bat identification of BARQUEZ et al. (1999) (morphometric traits). The specimen had ovoid ears that were connected by a narrow band, distinguishing it from H. velatus. The ratio between head and body length and ear length was 1.7, and the length of the tympanic bulla is smaller than 4 mm, separating it from H. montanus and H. magellanicus. The length between molars was smaller than 7 mm, separating it from H. macrotus. These combinations of traits classify the specimen as H. laephotis (BARQUEZ et al. 1999). The cranial and external measurements of the specimens are shown in table I and are within the morphometric variation available in the literature for this species (LÓPEZ-GONZÁLEZ et al. 1998, BARQUEZ et al. 1999, ACOSTA & VENEGAS 2006). The specimen was deposited in the Coleção Científica de Mastozoologia da Universidade Federal do Paraná (DZUP), under the record number DZUP 0272.

Although H. laephotis had not hitherto been recorded in Brazil, there is a record of H. macrotus for the State of Goiás (POL et al. 1998) that could in fact represent a record of H. m. laephotis. However the poor description of this specimen based only on non-morphometric qualitative traits and the lack of a registration number in the museum does not allow the discrimination between the two actual species (H. macrotus or H. laephotis). The presence of H. laephotis in Santa Catarina State aid the ideia presented by CABRERA (1957: 108): "Es possible que este Histiotus (H. alienus) sea un representante oriental de H. macrotus (H. m. laephotis) ".

On March 14, 2006 an adult male of H. laephotis was caught using a mist net inside a wood storage barn that was used as the diurnal roost for this species. In addition to H. laephotis, four specimens of H. velatus and eight specimens of Tadarida brasiliensis (I. Geoffroy, 1824) were also caught in the same night and site. BARQUEZ et al. (1999) also recorded the use of an artificial diurnal roost by H. laephotis, as well as the cohabitation of this species with another bat species (Tadarida brasiliensis and Myotis sp). This type of behavior (sharing roost) tends to occur among all the species in the genus (ACOSTA y LARA 1950, PEARSON & PEARSON 1989, BARQUEZ et al. 1999, ACHAVAL et al. 2004, MIRANDA et al. 2006).

Given the natural rarity of H. laephotis (NOWAK 1994, BARQUEZ et al. 1999) and the still poor mastofaunistic sampling of the State of Santa Catarina (CHEREM et al. 2004), it is possible to suppose the occurrence of other populations in Southern Brazil, even in low frequency, as has been observed in H. montanus in the same region (FABIÁN et al. 2006, MIRANDA et al. 2006). This single record suggests that new field collection efforts in the region are necessary, both to determine its distribution and to assess its status in nature. Only then would it be possible to assess its conservation status.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank CNPq for a scholarship to João M.D. Miranda and for a grants to Fernando C. Passos; Raphael E.F. Santos and the Rodrigo Lingnau for assistance during field work, the Peter Lowenberg-Neto for help to make the map and the Márcio R. Pie for translation of manuscript.

Received in 27.III.2007; accepted in 13.XI.2007.

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Contribution number 1726 of the Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Paraná.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  11 Feb 2008
• Date of issue
  Dec 2007

History

• Received
  27 Mar 2007
• Accepted
  13 Nov 2007