Myotis nigricans (Schinz, 1821)

Cláudio, Vinícius C., Barbosa, Gedimar P., Rocha, Vlamir J. & Rassy, Ricardo Moratelli Fabrício B., 2020, The bat fauna (Mammalia: Chiroptera) of Carlos Botelho State Park, Atlantic Forest of Southeastern Brazil, including new distribution records for the state of São Paulo, Zoologia (e 36514) 37, pp. 1-32 : 24-25

Myotis nigricans (Schinz, 1821)

Fig. 39

Taxonomy. Myotis nigricans and M. riparius can be distinguished from M. lavali , which is similar in size, by the unicolored or weakly bicolored dorsal fur (strongly bicolored in M. lavali ; Moratelli et al. 2011a, 2013). From M. ruber , M. nigricans and M. riparius can be distinguished by the absent or low saggital and lambdoidal crests ( Thomas 1902, López-González et al. 2001). Myotis nigricans can be separated from M. riparius by dorsal fur texture (silky in M.nigricans and woolly in M. riparius ); and saggital crest usually absent ( Laval 1973, López-González et al. 2001, Moratelli et al. 2013, Díaz et al. 2016). Myotis nigricans is distinguished from M. izecksohni by the smaller size (forearm 30.5–38.9 mm in M. nigricans , averaging 33 mm; 33.1–38.3 mm in M. izecksohni , averaging 36.1 mm in females and 36.4 in males), and lighter general fur coloration (mummy-brown dorsal fur and cinnamon-brown ventral fur in M. nigricans , dark to medium-brown dorsal fur, and light brown venter in M. izecksohni ; Moratelli et al. 2011 a, Dias et al. 2015). Specimens from PECB assigned to M. nigricans (ZSP 010, 051; see Table 10 for measurements) have unicolored to slightly bicolored dorsal fur, with blackish brown basis and dark brown tips, averaging 7 mm on shoulder region ( Fig. 42). The ventral fur is lighter than the dorsal and is bicolored, with dark brown basis and mid brown tips. The fringe of hairs on the edge of the uropatagium is absent, the wing membrane is attached to the feet, and face and ears are dark brown.

Distribution. In Brazil, the species apparenlty occurs in all the biomes, with records for the states of Amazonas, Amapá, Bahia, Ceará, Pará, Piauí, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Rio Grande do Norte, Roraima, Sergipe, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Goiás, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Espírito Santo ( Tavares et al. 2008, Reis et al. 2017). In São Paulo the species is also widely distributed ( Garbino 2016).

Field observations. We captured 21 individuals, of which 20 (13 males and 7 females) were taken on ground-level mist-nets, in different sampling sites and elevations: M3, M4, M11, M17, M20, M21, M27, M29, M37 and M39. One adult male was captured in abandoned roof tiles, in sampling site S12 (Appendix 1). Captures occurred in January, March, April, July, August, September, October and December. A lactating female was netted in January, and a pregnant female in September.