Centronycteris maximiliani (Fischer)

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 : 24

Centronycteris maximiliani (Fischer)

Figure 13

VOUCHER MATERIAL: 1 male (AMNH 267397); see table 1 for measurements.

IDENTIFICATION: Previously regarded as monotypic (e.g., by Koopman, 1993), the genus Centronycteris was recently shown to contain at least two species by Simmons and Handley (1998). According to these authors, the known range of Centronycteris maximiliani includes southern Venezuela, the Guianas, and northern, eastern, and southeastern Brazil, whereas C. centralis Thomas (1912b) occurs in Central America, Colombia, Peru, and on both sides of the Andes in Ecuador. Both species are known from only a few specimens, however, and their true geographic ranges may be considerably larger. In fact, because no known biogeographic barriers separate the ranges of C. maximiliani and C. centralis , these bats might occur sympatrically almost anywhere in Amazonia. Our Paracou voucher is the first known specimen of C. maximiliani from French Guiana.

Measurements and descriptions of Centronycteris maximiliani from the Guianas and elsewhere were provided by Thomas (1913), Husson (1962, 1978), Williams et al. (1983), and Simmons and Handley (1998). The latter authors summarized craniodental characters and measurements that distinguish C. maximiliani from C. centralis . Our Paracou voucher formed much of the basis of their description of C. maximiliani .

FIELD OBSERVATIONS: Our single individual of this species was shot in the late afternoon (about 16:00 hours) as it perched about 3 m above the ground on the underside of a large (ca. 20 x 30 cm) unmodified leaf of a small melastomataceous tree beside a trail in well­drained primary forest.

Figures

Fig. 13. Dorsal (A), ventral (B), and lateral (C) views of the skull of Centronycteris maximiliani (AMNH 267397; male) from Paracou. Note the small anterior upper premolar and the large basisphenoid pits extending between the hamular processes of the pterygoids. C. centralis (not known from the Guianas) has a larger anterior upper premolar and smaller basisphenoid pits that do not extend between the hamular processes. Scale bar = 5 mm.