A big leap from its normal distribution, two Hahn’s short-tailed fruit bats (Carollia subrufa) (Hahn, 1905) reported in far southwestern Costa Rica

Wim De Backer,David A Rodríguez,Lilly Briggs

doi:10.20935/al2708

Abstract

A range extension for Hahn's short-tailed fruit bat, Carollia subrufa, is reported which extends the distribution of the species from the Pacific Dry Forest into the Pacific Moist Forest ecoregion. This raises the possibility that the species may be more widely distributed in Costa Rica than currently supposed, adding almost 30,000 km 2 of potential range.

Highlights

With more than 1400 species of identified bats in the world[1], the order Chiroptera has the second highest species diversity among all terrestrial mammals on Earth, they are surpassed only by rodents[2]
Wim de Backer, the lead bat researcher, has the necessary permission and certification from the Costa Rican Ministry of the Environment and Energy-National Park System (MINAE and SINAC are the acronyms in Spanish) to manipulate wildlife known as a Scientific Passport
The sites where C. subrufa was captured include the plants on whose fruits this species typically feeds1,20,21, suggesting that Finca Cántaros offers an adequate food supply for this species, due to the abundance of Piper and Solanum species around the property

Summary

Introduction

With more than 1400 species of identified bats in the world[1], the order Chiroptera has the second highest species diversity among all terrestrial mammals on Earth, they are surpassed only by rodents[2]. The diversity of bats in Costa Rica is among the richest in the world, with 121 cataloged species[3,4], distributed among nine families and 66 genera. 0.03% of the entire terrestrial surface area of the planet holds more than 8% of all the bat species in the world[5]. Short-tailed fruit bats are characterized by their extensive geographic distributions and local abundance; as such they are considered the most common mammals among neotropical fauna[9]. In Costa Rica, four of the eight short-tailed bat species have been documented[10,11]

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