FIRST RECORD OF Xeronycteris vieirai GREGORIN & DITCHFIELD, 2005 (CHIROPTERA, PHYLLOSTOMIDAE) FOR THE CERRADO BIOME

Abstract

Vieira’s long-tongued bat, Xeronycteris vieirai (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae) is known from a small number of localities in the semiarid Caatinga biome of northeastern Brazil, but recent records from the Caatinga-Cerrado ecotone indicate that the species may also occur in the Cerrado biome. Here, we document the first record of X. vieirai from the core area of the Cerrado, in central Brazil. The specimen was collected 26 years ago from a seasonal deciduous forest, in the area now submerged under the reservoir of the Serra da Mesa Hydroelectric Dam in the upper Tocantins River basin (“Alto Tocantins”), in the Goias State. This record indicates that X. vieirai is not be restricted to the Caatinga but may be present in other areas along the diagonal of dry and open environments that crosses the central Brazil.