Lonchophylla inexpectata: A new species of Nectar-feeding Bat from the Caatinga of Brazil.

Nectar-feeding Bats of the genus Lonchophylla are found tropical South and Central America, where they are important pollinators of some plant groups. There are currently twelve recognized species, with a cluster of smaller species having recently been transferred to another genus, Hsunycteris.

In a paper published in the journal ZooKeys on 22 July 2015, Ricardo Moratelli of the Fiocruz Mata Atlântica of the Fundação Oswaldo Cruz and the Division of Mammals at the National Museum of Natural History and Daniela Dias of the Laboratório de Biologia e Parasitologia de Mamíferos Silvestres Reservatórios at the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, describe a new species of Nectar-feeding Bats of the genus Lonchophylla, from museum specimens collected in the arid Caatinga habitat (dry shrubland and thorn forest) of northeastern Brazil between 1908 and 1976.

The new species is named Lonchophylla inexpectata, where ‘inexpectata’ means ‘unexpected’. It is based entirely on museum specimens previously ascribed to the species Lonchophylla mordax, a species first described in 1903 from Brazil, and which formerly included populations from as far west as Colombia and Ecuador and as far north as Costa Rica, but which is now regarded as exclusively east-Brazilian in distribution. However, while previous taxonomists have removed distant populations from the species, it is currently considered to inhabit both the wet Atlantic Rainforests and arid Caatinga environment within this region, an improbable juxtaposition of habitats.

Moratelli and Dias examined museum specimens of ‘Lonchophylla mordax’ from both Atlantic Rainforest and Caatinga environments, and found that the Caatinga specimens were persistently paler than the Atlantic Forest specimens, many being described in museum records as ‘faded’. Further investigation revealed that these specimens also had smaller skulls, with narrower, more slender snouts, and slightly different dentition, with a well-developed lingual cusp (cusp on the inner, tongue, side of the tooth) on the fourth premolar, which was absent from the Atlantic Forest specimens.

Dorsal (A) and ventral (B) pelage of Lonchophylla inexpectata. Scale bar is 10 mm. Moratelli & Dias (2015).

Lonchophylla inexpectata has not yet been studied as a separate species in the wild, and its exact distribution is unclear, though museum specimens have been identified that were collected in both Pernambuco and Bahia States. However Moratelli and Dias note that expansion of agriculture in eastern Brazil has led to clearing of many areas of Atlantic Rainforest and its replacement with an artificial environment closer to the arid Caatinga, which may have led to Lonchophylla inexpectata expanding its range.

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A new species of Nectar-Feeding Bat from Brazil.

New World Nectar-Feeding Bats (Phyllostomidae) evolved separately from the Nectar-Feeding Bats of the Old World (which may themselves represent more than one evolutionary lineage). They can be split into two distinct groups, the Lonchophyllinae which extract nectar by the means of two deep groves on either side of their tongue, and the Glossophaginae, which feed by means of a brush-like apparatus on their tongues. 

In a paper published in the American Museum Novitates on 25 June 2012, Marcelo Nogueira, Isaac Lima and Adriano Peracchi of the Laboratório de Mastozoologia at the Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro and Nancy Simmons of the Department of Mammalogy at the Division of Vertebrate Zoology at the American Museum of Natural History describe a new species of Glossophagin Bat from the Coastal Forests of Brazil.

The new species is described from two Bats captured in tableland Atlantic forest at the Reserva Natural Vale in the north of the state of Espírito Santo, in southeastern Brazil, and a third specimen from  semideciduous seasonal tableland Atlantic forest at the Floresta Nacional de Goytacazes reserve about 30 km south on the right bank of the Rio Doce. These tableland forests are considered to be the most botanically species rich parts of the Atlantic Forests.

Map showing the location of the Reserva Natural Vale and Floresta Nacional de Goytacazes reserves. Nogueira et al. (2012).

The new species is named Dryadonycteris capixaba, where Dryadonycteris means 'bat from Dryades' (a reference to the name 'Dryades' which was used by the 19th-century German naturalist Karl Friedrich Philipp von Martius to describe the Atlantic Forrest Floral Province) and capixaba is a Tulpi word meaning from Espírito Santo.

Dryadonycteris capixaba is a small Glossophagin Bat, slightly over 55 mm in length, with an elongate snout, lacking lower incisors, having a triangular noseleaf and having tricoloured banding of its fur (i.e., each hair has a pale middle band and darker basal and distal bands). The Bats were captured in ground-level mist nets in both dry and wet seasons. The areas where they were captured have been sampled for Bats extensively, implying these are quite rare animals. The forests if Floresta Nacional de Goytacazes are quite badly fragmented, suggesting that Dryadonycteris capixaba may be able to cope with such conditions.

Dryadonycteris capixaba. Nogueira et al. (2012).

See also New species of Bat discovered in Vietnam and Mammals on Sciency Thoughts YouTube.

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