Micronycteris microtis Miller

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 : 76-77

Micronycteris microtis Miller

VOUCHER MATERIAL: 9 females ( AMNH *266025, 266026, *266027, *266030, *267868, *267869, *267872; MNHN *1995.805, *1995.807) and 13 males ( AMNH *266024, 266028, *266029, 266031, *267097, *267866, *267867, *267870, *267871, *267873; MNHN *1995.806, 1995.808, 1995.812); see table 24 for measurements.

IDENTIFICATION: The characters that distinguish Micronycteris microtis from other congeners are explained in the preceding species accounts for M. brosseti and M. megalotis and need not be repeated here. Additional observations and comparative measurements can be found in Brosset and Charles­Dominique (1990) and Simmons (1996b). Two subspecies of M. microtis are currently recognized: M. m. mexicana (Mexico south to the Pacific coast of Costa Rica) and M. m. microtis (Atlantic coast of Nicaragua south to Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, and northern Brazil) ( Simmons, 1996a, 1996b).

Our specimens of Micronycteris microtis conform in all respects to previous descriptions of this species and fall within the range of size variation that Simmons (1996b) described for M. m. microtis .

FIELD OBSERVATIONS: Of the 22 Micronycteris microtis we captured at Paracou, 3 were taken in ground­level mistnets (1 in well­drained primary forest and 2 in swampy primary forest), 17 were taken at day roosts, 1 was shot at a night roost, and 1 was caught in a harp trap set across a trail through closed­canopy secondary vegetation.

The four roosts in which we found Micronycteris microtis were all at or below ground level. One day roost and the night roost were in small (50–70 cm diameter) metal culverts under dirt roads; another roost was a hollow log with an inside diameter of ca. 50 cm; and another was a shallow vertical chamber in the partially rotted buttress of a very large tree (fig. 33). The hollow­log roosting group (which was captured in its entirety) consisted of three adult males, three adult females, and one subadult male. The roosting group occupying the buttress cavity shown in figure 33 included two adult males, three adult females, and three juveniles (one or more members of this group may have escaped). The culvert day roost contained only a lactating adult female carrying a juvenile. The culvert night roost contained an adult male, but other occupants might have escaped detection. Carollia perspicillata was the only species we found roosting together with Micronycteris microtis (in the buttress cavity and in a culvert).