Myotis Kaup, 1829

Velazco, Paúl M., Voss, Robert S., Fleck, David W. & Simmons, Nancy B., 2021, Mammalian Diversity And Matses Ethnomammalogy In Amazonian Peru Part 4: Bats, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2021 (451), pp. 1-201 : 133-135

Genus Myotis Kaup, 1829

The genus Myotis is the most widely distributed bat genus and contains more than 120 species worldwide (Gunnell et al., 2017; Simmons and Cirranello, 2020). Species of Myotis can be distinguished from other vespertilionids by the presence of two pairs of upper incisors, three premolars in each toothrow, extreme differences in size between the anterior premolars and the posterior premolar (which creates an apparent gap in the toothrow behind the canine when viewed laterally), and by the tendency for the upper second premolar to be displaced lingually, so that the distance between the first and third premolars is reduced (Tate, 1941; López-Baucells et al., 2018). The taxonomy and systematics of Neotropical Myotis have been the focus of numerous studies based either on morphological data (e.g., Wilson, 2008b; Moratelli and de Oliveira, 2011; Moratelli et al., 2011a, b, 2013; Moratelli and Wilson, 2011, 2014a; Mantilla-Meluk and Muñoz-Garay, 2014) or molecular sequence analyses (e.g., Ruedi and Mayer, 2001; Bickham et al., 2004; Stadelmann et al., 2007; Larsen et al., 2012). Different types of data and geographic coverage have produced results that are not entirely congruent with each other, so considerable taxonomic uncertainty remains. We recorded all four species of Myotis with geographic ranges that overlap the Yavarí- Ucayali interfluve.

adult Myotis albescens captured

at Jenaro Herrera; B, an adult

M. nigricans captured at El

Chino Village; and C, an adult

M. riparius captured at Jenaro

Herrera. Photographs by

Marco Tschapka (A, C) and

Brock Fenton (B).