Yellow-shouldered Bats Research Articles

A NEW SPECIES OF CHOCOAN STURNIRA (CHIROPTERA: PHYLLOSTOMIDAE: STENODERMATINAE) FROM WESTERN ECUADOR AND COLOMBIA

A distinctive new species of sturnirine bat, Sturnira (Sturnira) koopmanhilli, new species (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae: Stenodermatinae), is described from 49 specimens collected in the Pacific drainage of the western Andes, at 300–2000 m in western Ecuador and Colombia. This yellow-shouldered bat is endemic to this Chocoan region where it is known from nine localities in Ecuador (Esmeraldas and Chimborazo) and Colombia (Choco, Valle del Cauca, and Narino). This moderately large Sturnira species (forearm length, 48.1–52.4 mm) is compared with Sturnira mordax (Goodwin, 1938) (forearm length, 43.0–49.2) and Sturnira ludovici Anthony, 1924 (forearm length, 43.9–49.5). Salient characters that distinguish the new species from these two cogeners include a bicolored appearance of dorsal fur, recessed hypoglossal foramina, presence of a sulcus on posterior faces of upper canines, and teeth P2 > M2. Teeth I1 and i1 are protrudent and robust, which set the new species apart from other Sturnira species. Spacing between teeth P1-M3 and p1-m3 is present in the new bat and with the subgenus Corvira. The new species is placed in the subgenus Sturnira.

NEW SPECIES OF STURNIRA (CHIROPTERA: PHYLLOSTOMIDAE) FROM NORTHERN SOUTH AMERICA

Yellow-shouldered bats (genus Sturnira Gray, 1842), found throughout Latin America, are not well understood taxonomically. Four specimens of Sturnira from Bolivia and Venezuela possess dental characteristics differing from those of currently known species, leading us to regard them as representing a new species. We describe external, dental, and cranial characteristics and conduct a multivariate comparison using 29 morphometric characters for 44 male specimens of Sturnira erythromos, S. ludovici, S. hondurensis, and the new species. In a principal components analysis, most of the variation was summarized on component I (78.5% of total character variance), a general size vector. A multiple-comparisons test of component I projections showed all differences among species pairs to be highly significant, except that between S. ludovici and S. hondurensis. For the 29 individual characters, the new species was statistically different from S. erythromos in 21, S. ludovici in 13, and S. hondurensis in 14. The new species has a unique combination of dental characteristics, including bicuspid upper incisors, trilobed lower incisors, and smooth 1st and 2nd lower molars.

The genus Parasecia (Acari: Trombiculidae), with the description of a new species from Mexico.

The genus Parasecia Loomis, 1966, is redefined, and Parasecia bulbocalcar Goff is described as new from specimens collected off a Yellow-shouldered Bat, Sturnia ludovici Anthony, taken in Morelos, Mexico. A key to the 15 species of Parasecia is provided.