Trinycteris nicefori (Sanborn, 1949)

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 : 92-93

Trinycteris nicefori

VOUCHER MATERIAL: 4 females (AMNH *267877, *267878; MNHN *1995.815, *1995.817) and 5 males (AMNH *266017, *266019, *267410, *267876; MNHN *1995.816); see table 32 for measurements.

IDENTIFICATION: Descriptions and comparative measurements of Trinycteris nicefori

from the Guianas and elsewhere can be found in Sanborn (1949), Goodwin and Greenhall (1961), Hill (1964), Genoways and Williams (1979, 1986), Swanepoel and Genoways (1979), Williams and Genoways (1980a), Brosset and Charles­Dominique (1990), and Simmons (1996b). No subspecies are currently recognized (Sanborn, 1949; Jones and Carter, 1976; Koopman, 1994).

Our voucher specimens conform closely with descriptions of Trinycteris nicefori in the literature cited above, with measurements (table 32) falling within the range of variation previously reported for Guianan populations. It is noteworthy that both of the pelage color phases described by Sanborn (1949) are present in our Paracou series, as they are in other Guianan samples reported by Hill (1964) and Williams and Genoways (1980a). Eight of our vouchers (including all the all females) represent Sanborn’s ‘‘gray phase,’’ having tricolored gray­brown dorsal pelage and a pale gray stripe on the lower back. The brightness of the stripe varies among individuals; in some the stripe is bright and clearly distinct from the surrounding fur, while in others the stripe is only barely discernable. A single male in our series (AMNH 267876) represents Sanborn’s ‘‘red phase.’’ The dorsal fur in this individual is bright orange­brown, contrasting sharply with the dark brown wing membranes. As in gray­phase specimens, the dorsal hairs of our red­phase specimen are tricolored with a dark base, pale median band, and dark tip. A pale middorsal stripe is just barely visible in our one red example.

FIELD OBSERVATIONS: The nine individuals of Trinycteris nicefori that we captured at Paracou were all taken in ground­level mistnets. Two were netted in well­drained primary forest, two in swampy primary forest, and four at the margins of manmade clearings. One of the latter was captured next to a fruiting shrub, Vismia sp. ( Clusiaceae ), growing beside a narrow dirt road through the forest. The mistnet we erected in front of this shrub to intercept foraging frugivores otherwise caught only carolliines and stenodermatines ( Carollia perspicillata , Rhinophylla pumilio , Artibeus obscurus , A. gnomus , A. concolor , and Sturnira tildae ).