A new species of nectar-feeding bat, genus Lonchophylla, from the Caatinga of Brazil (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae).
We describe Lonchophyllainexpectata sp. n. from the Caatinga of Brazil. This new species can be distinguished from all known species of Lonchophylla that occur in Brazil by dental traits, cranial size, and fur colour. Specimens of Lonchophyllainexpectata have been misidentified as Lonchophyllamordax; but Lonchophyllainexpectata is a pale-venter species, similar in external appearance to Lonchophylladekeyseri. We have found Lonchophyllainexpectata in the Caatinga of North-eastern Brazil; Lonchophyllamordax along the eastern border of the Caatinga and in the Atlantic Forest-Caatinga ecotone in North-eastern Brazil; and Lonchophylladekeyseri in the Cerrado of Mid-western Brazil, in the Brazilian Cerrado-Caatinga ecotone, and as far west as the Cerrado of Bolivia.
Fiocruz Mata Atlântica, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, CEP 22713-375, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil ; Division of Mammals, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, DC 20013-7012, U.S.A.
Ricardo
R
Moratelli
Laboratório de Biologia e Parasitologia de Mamíferos Silvestres Reservatórios, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, CEP 21040-900, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Daniela
D
Dias
Atlantic Forest; Caatinga; Cerrado; Lonchophylladekeyseri; Lonchophyllainexpectata; Lonchophyllamordax; North-eastern Brazil