Molossops (Cynomops) abrasus (Temminck)

Simmons, Nancy B. & Voss, Robert S., 1998, The mammals of Paracou, French Guiana, a Neotropical lowland rainforest fauna. Part 1, Bats, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 237, pp. 1-219 : 149

Molossops (Cynomops) abrasus (Temminck)

VOUCHER MATERIAL: 1 female (AMNH *267534); see table 62 for measurements.

IDENTIFICATION: Molossops abrasus is easily identified by size and other morphological traits from other members of the subgenus Cynomops (tables 60, 61). Four subspecies are currently recognized ( Williams and Genoways, 1980a; Koopman, 1994): M. a. mastivus (Venezuela and the Guianas), M. a. brachymeles (eastern Peru), M. a. abrasus (eastern Brazil), and M. a. cerastes (Paraguay and northern Argentina). These taxa are distinguished principally on the basis of size, with mastivus being the largest (Goodwin, 1958; Taddei et al., 1976; Williams and Genoways, 1980a, 1980b).

Our Paracou voucher, apparently the first record from French Guiana, conforms to previous qualitative descriptions of Molossops abrasus and falls within the range of size variation previously reported for the species (Goodwin, 1958; Taddei et al., 1976; Williams and Genoways, 1980a, 1980b; Koopman, 1994). Our specimen, a female, is somewhat smaller than a male identified as M. a. mastivus that Williams and Genoways (1980a) reported from Surinam, but this difference is of the same magnitude as the sexual dimorphism that Taddei et al. (1976) documented in a collection of M. abrasus from eastern Brazil.

FIELD OBSERVATIONS: We caught our only specimen of Molossops abrasus in a mistnet suspended 18–21 m above a narrow dirt road.