182.

Chiriquinan Serotine

Eptesicus chiriquinus

French: Sérotine du Chiriqui / German: Chiriqui-Breitfligelfledermaus / Spanish: Epteiscus de Chiriqui

Taxonomy. Eptesicus chiriguinus Thomas, 1920,

“Boquete [Chiriqui, Panama]. Alt. 4000’ [= 1219 m].”

Based on external and skull quantitative characters, E. chiriguinus has been considered a synonym of E. andinus . Later studies based on external and skull quantitative and qualitative characters considered E. chiriquinus a valid species. Monotypic.

Distribution. From S Costa Rica into South America, where it extends to NW & N Brazilian Amazon, WC Bolivia, and NW Argentina; additional records are found in Brazilian E coast (Bahia and Minas Gerais states).

Descriptive notes. Head-body 62-69 mm, tail 35-51 mm, ear 12-18 mm, hindfoot 9-13 mm, forearm 42-5-48-9 mm; weight 9-14 g. Females are larger than males. Dorsal fur of the Chiriquinan Serotine is long (8-14 mm) and soft, with oily appearance in living individuals; hairs are unicolored, with general blackish to dark brown color. Ventral hairs have dark brown bases and lighter tan tips. Ears and membranes are blackish; tragus is relatively broad and short. Skull has sharply angular supraorbital edges; rostrum is not prominently inflated; sagittal and lambdoidal crests are well developed;flattened triangular bone in crest connection is absent; and braincase is high, not flattened, with well-defined dish-shaped facial profile.

Habitat. Dry to moist habitats in dry inter-Andean forests, evergreen forests, montane tropical forests, Yungas, and Atlantic Forest, edges of forest fragments, and modified habitats at elevations of 25-2838 m. Most captures of Chiriquinan Serotines occur in moist habitats near water and are less frequent in dry habitats, such as open areas.

Food and Feeding. The Chiriquinan Serotine is insectivorous. Individuals have been captured foraging at heights of 4-23 m around lampposts, over narrow dirt roads, in man-made clearings, and over roadside puddles. Fecal samples from one individual had large amounts of Coleptera ( Scarabaeidae).

Breeding. No information.

Activity patterns. Echolocation calls have FM and QCF components that sweep down from c.45 kHz to 25-39 kHz. Calls are c.10 milliseconds in duration, and frequency of maximum energy is 35 kHz.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. The Chiriquinan Serotine is widely distributed and known to occur in protected areas.

Bibliography. Barquez et al. (2009), Bianconi & Pedro (2017), Bracamonte (2010, 2013), Carter & Dolan (1978), Davis, W.B. (1966), Davis, W.B. & Gardner (2008), Gregorin & Loureiro (2011), Lépez-Baucells, Rocha, Bobrowiec et al. (2018), Siles (2007b), Simmons (2005), Simmons & Voss (1998), Solari (2019d), Thomas (1920b), Zortea et al. (2013).