A systematic revision of the bats (Chiroptera) of Honduras: an updated checklist with corroboration of historical specimens and new records

Abstract

During the last century, survey efforts for mammals in Honduras have been few and most distributional and conservation assessments of bats have been based on historical records. Taxonomy of many records has changed. Moreover, a number of supposed Honduran occurrences are based on records from bordering countries without confirmation by a Honduran voucher. Therefore, the list of bats of Honduras lacks precision. Here, we update the number of species in the country, including taxonomic changes not reflected in recent works and new records based on museum specimens. The known number of species for Honduras is 113 with seven expected (Cormura brevirostris, Lampronycteris brachyotis, Mesophylla macconnelli, Molossus coibensis, M. pretiosus, Thyroptera discifera and Trinycteris nicefori), based on records in adjoining countries. We provide a new record for Honduras of Natalus lanatus. We confirm the presence of Cynomops greenhalli and Diaemus youngii and clarify the taxonomic status of Artibeus intermedius, Chiroderma gorgasi, Eumops ferox, Gardnerycteris keenani, Lasiurus frantzii, Myotis pilosatibialis, Molossus and Pteronotus species, and Tonatia bakeri. We recommend a reassessment of the conservation status of the bats of Honduras considering recent changes and that a number of species (e.g. Choeronycteris mexicana) have not been observed since their reports in historical records. This requires an update of the taxonomic identification keys for Honduras. The updated checklist below demonstrates the high biodiversity of Honduran bats but is also an example of how poorly many groups have been studied since they were first recorded in the country.

Rediscovery of Vampyressa thyone (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae) in Honduras: updated distribution and notes on its conservation

“…Finally, the forearm length of the seven specimens was smaller in comparison to V. nymphaea, which is larger (FA = 35-39 mm) (Medina-Fitoria 2014; Tavares et al 2014). Despite the overlap between the forearm of V. thyone and M. macconnelli (FA = 29-33 mm), the latter has not been recorded in Honduras (Turcios-Casco et al 2020a).…”

Additions of host associations and new records of bat ectoparasites of the families Spinturnicidae, Nycteribiidae and Streblidae from Honduras

“…In Honduras, streblid flies have been found only on 27 of the 59 phyllostomid species (Dick 2013; this paper). For Mormoopidae, only P. mesoamericanus has been reported to be parasitized by a streblid fly, and there are three more species of Pteronotus and Mormoops megalophylla (Peters, 1864) in Honduras (Turcios-Casco et al 2020). As is the case with spinturnicid mites, there is a chance to discover undescribed species, as well as to encounter new records.…”

Los murciélagos (Chiroptera) del Caribe de Honduras y Nicaragua: una comparación sobre su diversidad en cinco diferentes coberturas vegetales

“…Uno de estos individuos fue recolectado y se encuentra en el Museo de Historia Natural de "Biodiversidad y Ciencia" de la UNAH-VS con código de registro: UVS-V-02529. Esta especie [73] y Natalus lanatus [4] han sido las únicas reportadas recientemente como nuevas para Honduras, sin embargo, la ocurrencia de C. gorgasi podría representar una población disyunta ya que no se ha registrado en Nicaragua.…”

“…Debido a estas características y su origen geográfico, Centroamérica posee una mezcla de especies de murciélagos de origen Neártico (provenientes de Norteamérica) y de origen Neotropical (provenientes de Suramérica), con 32 especies endémicas para la región [2]. La diversidad de murciélagos en Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, y Costa Rica alberga 145 especies, 9 familias y 66 géneros [3][4][5][6][7][8], esto constituye el 10,31% de la riqueza mundial, y debido a ello Centroamérica es considerada una de las regiones con mayor cantidad de géneros de murciélagos en el mundo [5,8]. Turcios-Casco et al [4] mencionan una riqueza de 113 especies de murciélagos en Honduras, y Medina-Fitoria & Martínez-Fonseca [6] y Saldaña Tapia et al [7] refieren 111 para Nicaragua.…”