Vampyressa sinchi, Tavares & Gardner & Ramírez-Chaves & Velazco, 2014

Tavares, Valéria Da C., Gardner, Alfred L., Ramírez-Chaves, Héctor E. & Velazco, Paúl M., 2014, Systematics of Vampyressa melissa Thomas, 1926 (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae), with descriptions of two new species of Vampyressa, American Museum Novitates 2014 (3813), pp. 1-1 : 1-

Vampyressa sinchi , new species

Quechuan Yellow-eared Bat

Figures 4–6 , 8–10

Vampyressa melissa: Lemke et al., 1982: 231 .

Vampyressa melissa: Alberico et al., 2000: 55 (part).

HOLOTYPE: An adult female ( FMNH 114028 ; figs. 4E–F, 5B, 5E, 6C, 8B, 9A) collected at Llorente (0°46′40″ N, 77°21′50″ W; 1700 m), municipio de Córdoba, departamento de Nariño, Colombia, by Kjell von Sneidern (original number: 1736) on May 10 1971. The holotype is preserved as a skin and skull (table 4).

PARATYPES: An adult female ( MHNUC 1514 , fig. 10) caught at San Juan de Villalobos (1°33′18″ N, 76°18′19″ W; 1620 m), Vereda La Esmeralda , Santa Rosa , departamento de Cauca, Colombia, in the Caquetá River basin, eastern Colombian slopes of the eastern Andes by H.E. Ramírez-Chaves on 5 May 2005; and an adult male (IAvH 2282) collected in Parque Nacional Natural Cueva de los Guácharos (1°38′ N, 75°58′ W, 1900 m), Acevedo, departamento de Huila, Colombia, by T. O. Lemke (Lemke et al. 1982) see table 4 .

DISTRIBUTION: Know only from the type series from the eastern slope of the Central Cordillera ( Llorente ) and eastern slopes of the Eastern Cordillera ( San Juan de Villalobos and Parque Nacional Cueva de los Guácharos) of the Andes in Colombia (fig. 3) .

ETYMOLOGY: A Quechuan word, sinchi conveys the meaning “robust and strong.” The name honors the Quechuan people of Colombia (the Ingas), and indicates the robustness of this species, the largest Vampyressa known. The name is to be treated as a noun in apposition.

Figures

FIG. 4. Dorsal (A) and ventral (B) views of the skull of Vampyressa elisabethae (USNM 319283 [holotype]; male) from Bocas del Toro, Panama. Dorsal (C) and ventral (D) views of the skull of V. melissa (FMNH 174909; female) from Cuzco, Peru. Dorsal (E) and ventral (F) views of the skull of V. sinchi (FMNH 114028 [holotype]; female) from Nariño, Colombia. Scale bar = 5 mm.

FIG. 5. Frontal view and dorsal view of external nares of the skulls of V. melissa, USNM 548310 (A, D); V. sinchi, sp. nov., FMNH 114028 [holotype] (B, E); V. elisabethae, sp. nov., USNM 319285 (C) and USNM 319284 (F). Abbreviations: amf, accessory medial foramen; mp, mesethmoid plate; p, median premaxillary pit; s, septum between incisive foramina. Scale bar = 5 mm.

FIG. 6. Lateral views of the skull and lower jaw of (A) Vampyressa elisabethae (USNM 319283 [holotype]; male). Lateral views of the skull and lower jaw of (B) V. melissa (FMNH 174909; female). Lateral views of the skull and lower jaw of (C) V. sinchi (FMNH 114028 [holotype]; female). Scale bar = 5 mm.

FIG. 8. Partial views of the basicranial region of V. melissa, USNM 548310 (A); V. sinchi, sp. nov., FMNH 114028 [holotype] (B); V. elisabethae, sp. nov., USNM 319282 (C). Abbreviations: be, bony excrescence; cb, extension of caudal border of pterygoid; fo, foramen ovale; pg, postglenoid process; sf, orbitosphenoid fissure. Scale bar = 5 mm.

FIG. 9. Oblique views of the basicranial region of V. sinchi, sp. nov., FMNH 114028 [holotype] (A); V. elisabethae, sp. nov., USNM 319282 (B). Abbreviations: be, bony excrescence; cb, extension of caudal border of pterygoid; fo, foramen ovale; of, orbitosphenoid foramen; sf, orbitosphenoid fissure. Scale bar = 5 mm.

FIG. 10. Photograph of an adult female Vampyressa sinchi (MHNUC 1514) captured at San Juan de Villalobos, Caquetá River basin, eastern Colombian slopes of the Eastern Cordillera, collected at 1620 m. Photograph by Ofelia Mejía-Egas.