Marlon Zortéa

Bat diversity of a Cerrado habitat in central Brazil

The Cerrado is considered one of the 25 biodiversity hotspots in the world by conservation organizations. There are few studies on bat taxonomic groups for this biome. Herein we present a bat survey employing mist nets in the protected area of a private natural heritage reserve Reserva Particular do Patrimônio Natural Pousada das Araras, located in the west-central Brazil. We investigate the hypothesis that the Cerrado habitat complexity plays a role on the different structuring forces in bat ecological communities. Bats represent a diversity of trophic levels, and they occupy a wide range of available Cerrado habitats and microhabitats. The patterns and processes we discuss represent the factors influencing coexisting species of bats in different habitats and their implications for conservation. We captured 758 individuals of 25 species belonging to four families. Phyllostomidae was the dominant family, represented by 20 species (80%). The average recapture rate was 6.2%, and the species with most proportional recapture was A. caudifer. Greater species richness was observed among bats with predominantly insectivore habits, followed by frugivores. Glossophaga soricina was a dominant species, with about 30% of the captures. There was seasonal variation relating to the number of bats captured, with greater bat frequency occurring during the wet season, although some species occurred at higher rates during the dry season, such as C. perspicillata and S. lilium. Sanguivore bats were abundant, reflecting the availability of shelters and food supply (livestock) in the surrounding area. Compared to other surveyed areas, Pousada das Araras may be considered of high species diversity, supplanting the majority of known Cerrado studied areas. Apparently Cerrado favours the occurrence of insectivore species, with emphasis on the foliage-gleaning insectivores belong to the subfamily Phyllostominae. This study indicates that apparently the conservation of the Cerrado savanna fragments can support a considerable diversity of bat species.

Bat flies (Diptera, Streblidae and Nycteribiidae) in a Cerrado area of Goiás State, Brazil

A survey of bat flies was carried out in the Brazilian savanna (Cerrado) in the Goias state, Brazil. We collected 227 specimens of seventeen species belonging to nine genera of Streblidae and seven specimens of four species of Basilia Miranda-Ribeiro, 1903 (Nycteribiidae). Except for Paratrichobius longicrus (Miranda-Ribeiro, 1907) (Streblidae), all species are new recorded in Goias.

Tents used by Vampyressa pusilla (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) in southeastern Brazil

Some species of bats occupy leaves that they have modified for diurnal and night roosts. Fifteen neotropical and three paleotropical bats modify about 80 species of plants (Kunz et al. 1994) to make so called tent roosts. In the neotropical region, most tent-making bats belong to the family Phyllostomidae, mainly in the subfamily Stenodermatinae. Rhinophylla pumilio is the only nonstenodermatine known to roost in tents (Charles-Dominique 1993, Zortea 1995). Five species are recognized in the Vampyressa genus (Koopman 1993), of which at least one has been observed using this kind of tent roost. Vampyressa pusilla thyone was observed in cut leaves of Philodendron sp. in Costa Rica (Timm 1984). This same species uses tents in plants of the family Araceae: Philodendron macrophylla and Rhodospatha wendlandii (Kunz et al. 1994). Vampyressa nympheae was reported by Brooke (1987) as using tents in Pentagonia donnell-smithii (Rubiaceae) in Costa Rica. However, Brooke may have misidentified the bats (see Reid 1997). The tents formed by bats exhibit highly diverse architectural styles, and the same plant species may be used by more than one species of bat. Bat tents were classified by Kunz et al. (1994) into a system based on their style of construction. Eight types were proposed: conical, palmate umbrella, pinnate,

O conhecimento sobre morcegos (Chiroptera: Mammalia) do estado do Espírito Santo, sudeste do Brasil

A Ordem Chiroptera apresenta importância relevante na dinâmica dos ecossistemas, sendo a ordem de mamiferos com maior diversidade de habitos de vida. Dentre os estados da regiao Sudeste do Brasil, o Espirito Santo e um dos mais carentes em relacao ao conhecimento de morcegos. Este estudo sintetizou o estado do conhecimento sobre quiropteros gerado no Espirito Santo. Para isso, foram catalogados os morcegos depositados no Museu de Biologia Prof. Mello Leitao (MBML), no Laboratorio de Estudos de Quiropteros da Universidade Federal do Espirito Santo (LABEQ), Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (MVZ), Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) e University of Michigan Museum Zoology (UMMZ). Alem disso, foi realizada uma busca por artigos publicados sobre morcegos do Espirito Santo. Foram revistos 49 artigos cientificos, realizadas tres teses de mestrado e 11 monografias. Considerando as colecoes amostradas e artigos publicados totalizam-se 63 especies de morcegos para o estado, provenientes de 37 dos 78 municipios do Espirito Santo. A maior riqueza de especies de morcegos foi encontrada nos municipios de Linhares e Santa Teresa, o que e provavelmente reflexo da maior parte dos especimes depositados nos museus tambem serem desses municipios. O Espirito Santo apresenta um grande potencial para se encontrar novas ocorrencias de especies, enfatizando a importância da realizacao de futuros estudos sobre morcegos no estado.

Diurnal roosts and minimum home range defined by sleeping sites of a thin-spined porcupine Chaetomys subspinosus (Rodentia: Erethizontidae)

The thin-spined porcupine Chaetomys subspinosus (Olfers, 1818) is a species endemic to the extremely disturbed and fragmented Brazilian Atlantic forest. Little is known about its natural history. We analyzed the preferences of porcupine diurnal roost and home range, based on one relocated adult male that was radio-monitored during 1999. The individual was captured in the urban zone of Santa Teresa, Brazil, and relocated to a forest reserve 6 km from the capture site. The thin-spined porcupine feeds only on leaves. It prefers intermediate forest stratum (6-15 m of height) for roosting during daytime, generally using inclined branches with a diameter of 2 to 5 cm. Most observations indicated a prehensile tail position. Home range was relatively large (15.81 ha) for an arboreal animal of this size and new areas were still being explored after five months of monitoring.

Consumption of leaves by Platyrrhinus lineatus (Chiroptera, Stenodermatinae): are these bats primarily frugivorous or broadly phytophagous?

Until now, the consumption of leaves by bats has been considered rare or sporadic, even among the herbivorous families Pteropodidae and Phyllostomidae. Among the phyllostomids there are reports of folivory in the genera Artibeus and Platyrrhinus, based on opportunistic observations. Here, we conducted behavioural sampling using camera-trapping in the roost of a colony of Platyrrhinus lineatus already known to consume leaves during the dry and wet seasons, in order to investigate the frequency of leaf consumption, as well as eventual seasonal differences. We observed feeding activity in 80.5% of sampling nights, where fruit was present in 90.3% and leaves at 80.6%, with no significant differences between the consumption of items. When analyzing video recordings, we observed feeding activity in 22.2% of the samples, in which the consumption of fruits was significantly more frequent than the consumption of leaves. We also observed seasonal variation, with the consumption of leaves being significantly higher than that of fruits during the dry season, whereas in the rainy season, fruits were consumed significantly more frequently. Fruits and leaves were consumed in equal proportions during the night, with no differences between the early and late night. Our findings show that the consumption of leaves by herbivorous bats may be more widespread than previously thought. Leaves may often be a regular food item rather than a fallback.

The occurrence of Eptesicus chiriquinus Thomas, 1920 (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest with comments on the species’ distribution

This study provides a second recording of the bat Eptesicus chiriquinus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) for the Atlantic Forest biome in Brazil. A specimen was captured in a native forest near the Contas River in the District of Taboquinhas, municipality of Itacare, in southern Bahia. In Brazil, this species had sparse known records, although it is previously considered endemic to the Amazon region and the States of Amazonas and Para. Recently, this species was recorded in the Atlantic Forest of southeastern Brazil. This present record extends over a 1000 km northeast distribution of this species in Brazil.