Artibeus jamaicensis jamaicensis Leach 1821

P, S C., L, P A., G, H H., M, M N., L, K C. & C, J, 2007, B B, N L A, Occasional Papers of the Museum 271, pp. 1-20 : 11-12

Artibeus jamaicensis jamaicensis Leach 1821

Specimens examined (11).— Codrington , 3 blocks north of airport, 1 ( NMNH) ; Dominic , 4.3 km E Codrington, 17°38'26.6"N, 61°47'05.8"W, 7 ( TTU) ; Two Feet Bay , Gun Shop Cliff, 17°40'03"N, 61°46'00"W, 2 ( NMNH) ; no specific locality, 1 (MCZ).

Specimens captured/released (3).— Indian Cave, 17°40'04"N, 61°46'10"W, 3 .

Additional record.— Darby Cave , 17°39'26.85"N, 61°46'31.96"W (2007 photograph - Cindric) .

These specimens represent the first record of the common and widespread Jamaican fruit-eating bat from Barbuda. Breuil and Masson (1991) list Artibeus jamaicensis from Barbuda in their compilation of the distribution of bats in the Lesser Antilles, but the source of their record is unclear in their references. Table 1 presents the measurements for one adult male and five adult females. The measurements of the male fall within the range of those of the females for all variables except postorbital constriction in which the male is smaller than all of the females. Genoways et al. (2001) reviewed Antillean populations of the Jamaican fruit bat based upon morphometrics and presence/absence of M3/m3, and Phillips et al. (1989), Pumo et al. (1996), Carstens et al. (2004), and Larsen et al. (2007b) presented genetic data for these populations. These studies support the use of the subspecific name A. j. jamaicensis for populations on Barbuda. Additionally, Larsen et al. (2007b) generated and phylogenetically analyzed cytochrome-b DNA sequence data from six specimens of A. jamaicensis collected during the 2003 survey (TTU 101758 – TTU 101763). These specimens share a common haplotype, which is also present within populations of A. jamaicensis distributed throughout the Greater and Lesser Antilles. Such results further support the hypothesis of a recent colonization by A. jamaicensis into the Caribbean during the late Pleistocene (Phillips et al. 1991; Genoways et al. 2005; Larsen et al. 2007b).

In direct contrast to the numerical dominance of Artibeus on other islands in the northern Lesser Antilles (15-49% of all captures; Pedersen et al. 2007), Artibeus makes up only 5.9% of all capture records on Barbuda (cave and foraging habitat) and contributes only 9.6% of all captures at a foraging site at Dominic. On Barbuda, Brachyphylla would seem to be the numerically dominant fruit/omnivore bat at 38% of all records and 60% of all mist-net captures at Dominic.

Three males were captured by hand in 1994 in Indian Cave and the cliff face adjacent to it. Average weight and forearm of these three bats are 38.4 (36.2- 42.0) and 58.9 (56.3-61.0). The five adult females and one adult male captured in 2003 were mist netted in the same abandoned mango orchard (Dominic) where we took B. cavernarum . During the 2007 cave survey, three clusters of Jamaican fruit-eating bats were easily observed under a ledge in Darby Cave. Each of these clusters was composed of approximately 25 individuals. The other specimens examined are three adult males taken in 1983 by a field party from the National Museum of Natural History and an adult female taken under unknown circumstances (no date) and deposited in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University.

The scrotal male netted on 4 June 2003 had a testis length of 7 and weighed 33.7. The three males taken on 19 January 1983 weighed 37.5, 41.5, and 46. One of the females taken on 4 June 2003 was lactating and weighed 33.7. The other four females were pregnant when captured but one delivered a baby in the holding bag. The newborn male weighed 11.4 and its post-partum mother weighed 31.6. The other females each carried a single embryo that measured 18, 22, and 30 in crown-rump length—pre-partum weights on these females were 43.3, 41.8, and 50.7, respectively.

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Of the six individuals examined for dental characters, four were missing both upper third molars but possessed both lower third molars. The other two individuals were missing both upper third molars as well as both third lower molars. The absence of the upper M3s matches the pattern of this geographically variable character in other populations of A. j. jamaicensis , but the percentage of individuals with the lower m3 present is less than that reported in other samples of this species ( Genoways et al. 2001).