Uma breve história dos morcegos vampiros (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae, Desmodontinae) no Brasil colônia

Abstract

Out of 167 species of Chiroptera reported for Brazil, only three representatives of Desmodontinae (Phyllostomidae) are hematophagous, a unique feature among the known species of bats. This reduced group includes Desmodus rotundus, Diaemus youngi and Diphylla ecaudata, all widely distributed over Central and South America. The first notice about vampire bats appeared in the beginning of the 16th century, in the tenth book of the first “Decade” of Pietro Martire de Anghiera (1511), related to the exploration of the continent. For Brazil, the oldest citation of blood-sucking bats was due to Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (1555). Exceedingly abundant, those bats attacked human beings and caused serious damage to herds, being extremely difficult to control due to the scarce means available during colonial times. Among those, special mention should be made to the “gatos morcegueiros” (literally “bat-hunting cats”), individuals of Felis catus used to catch vampire bats in houses and corrals. Mentioned at least since the first half of the 18th century, those cats were included in property valuations and reached the price of several heads of cattle. Even nowadays, domestic cats are efficient predators of hematophagous bats in rural areas of Brazil and Argentina. Judging from historical records, the problems now caused by bloodsucking bats should not be regarded as one of the consequences of an omnipresent “ecological unbalance”, caused by a shortage of natural hosts and/or the loss of natural habitats. A highly plastic and opportunistic species such as Desmodus rotundus became adapted with extreme efficiency to the new environment, predominantly modeled by the expansion of cattle breeding, the progressive confinement of the herds, and the construction of buildings affording shelter for the bats. These are factors that would have promoted the explosive growth of an already substantially large original population of bats, to the point of converting it into an authentic pest.