New noteworthy records of bats for the Andean region of Venezuela and Colombia

New Genus and Species of Nectar-Feeding Bat from the Atlantic Forest of Southeastern Brazil (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae: Glossophaginae)

“…Description: Body size small (forearm 29-32 mm; tables 1-2) for a Glossophaginae and for bats in general; muzzle elongated, but shorter than braincase; mandibular prognathism evident; spear of noseleaf nearly triangular (3 mm wide × 3.38 mm tall in the fluid paratype) with no central rib; internarial region with narrow, unbeaded ridge along midsagittal line; horseshoe of noseleaf continuous with upper lip with no ridges or other structures separating it from lip; lateral edges of horseshoe confluent with face inferiorly, but with superior edge free; dorsal snout with pair of well-developed padlike papillae separated from each other and located just behind noseleaf; two columns of vibrissae present at each side of snout, lateral to noseleaf, the more anterior with its two vibrissae standing entirely on the padlike papilla, and the more posterior with three of its four vibrissae standing on this pad (the lowest vibrissa stands on its own smaller pad); anterior half of the upper lip, at each side of mouth, also ornamented with well-developed vibrissae, five of which are nearly evenly distributed in an irregular line parallel to lip, beginning close to posterior border of the large padlike papilla described above, and one located just above the more posterior of these vibrissae; one genal vibrissa present halfway between the corner of the mouth and the base of the ear notch; chin with deep central cleft and with a pair of narrow, scalloped dermal pads, one on each side of the cleft; two interramal vibrissae located posterior to the chin cleft; chin skin adjacent to the cleft, along each side of the mandible, ornamented with five well-developed vibrissae arranged, from anterior to posterior region, in a 1-2-1-1 scheme (additional, smaller vibrissae also present); ears small, with rounded distal tip, strongly convex inner margin, and outer margin nearly straight; tragus about one third the length of the pinna, spatulate in form, noticeably thicker medially, thinner and translucent laterally, bearing a basal expansion with a lobule on its upper margin that is folded posteriorly; forearm with basal two-thirds covered with fur on both the dorsal and ventral surfaces; metacarpal and proximal phalange of thumb nearly equal in length; metacar- (Soriano et al, 2005), French Guiana (Simmons and Voss, 1998), Pará, in northern Brazil (USNM 239520 -holotype, from Swanepoel and Genoways, 1979;MPEG 1251), and Bahia, in northeastern Brazil (Taddei and Pedro, 1993).…”

Alpha-taxonomy in the cricetid rodent Neomicroxus, a first assessment

“…The Andes in northern Colombia and Venezuela have great geographical complexity characterized by some depressions (e. g., Táchira and Barquisimeto Depression) that separate the mountains and generate significant breaks that lead to isolation and formation of so-called "montane sky islands" (Reig 1986;Anderson et al 2012). In this sense, the Táchira Depression, characterized by a dry subtropical climate, has been regarded as a biogeographical barrier to the dispersal of Andean species from both cordilleras (Cordillera Oriental de Colombia and Cordillera de Mérida, Soriano et al 1999;Soriano et al 2005). Species with lower vagility and strictly restricted to the cloud forest and páramo, would be virtually absent today, but probably had a wider and continuous distribution during glacial periods as suggested for Heteromys australis (Anderson and Soriano 1999) and Marmosa waterhousei (Gutiérrez et al 2011), both species distributed in a lower altitudinal range than Neomicroxus.…”