Part 3 (1/2)

_Specimens._--_Chinandega_: 4.5 km N Cosiguina, 15 m, 1; San Antonio, 35 m, 5. _Matagalpa_: 2 km N, 6 km E Esquipulas, 960 m, 3. _Nueva Segovia_: 7 km N, 4 km E Jalapa, 660 m, 1.

_Zelaya_: S side Rio Mico, El Recreo, 25 m, 1.

Paradiso (1967) reviewed geographic variation in this unique bat, the type locality of which was restricted to Realejo, Chinandega, Nicaragua, by Goodwin (1946:327). Because additional material had not been reported from Nicaragua, Paradiso (_op. cit._:598) felt it was ”premature to restrict the type locality to a specific area in that country” (the holotype was obtained on the voyage of the H.M.S.

Sulphur, which called at Realejo), and preferred the more general designation ”west coast of Mexico or Central America.” In view of the fact that we now have specimens from but a few miles distant from Realejo (at San Antonio), we see no reason to contest Goodwin's restriction of the type locality to that place.

Specimens from San Antonio were collected along a small stream, bordered by a bilevel gallery forest, in an area otherwise planted mostly to cane. Many trees of the lower level were covered by an extremely thick network of vines, which were interwoven with branches and supported fallen leaves and debris from the upper level. This situation led to formation of small ”rooms” or ”cubicles” under some shorter trees; the bats were shot as they hung from small branches under one such tree, which was in fruit. All of our other specimens were captured in mist nets.

Pregnant females were taken on the following dates (crown-rump length of embryo in parentheses): 25 February (12 mm), 2 March (17 mm), 15 March (14 mm); a nonpregnant female also was taken on 15 March. Five males captured at San Antonio on 9 and 10 March had an average testicular length of 5.6 (5-6) mm. A male taken in July had testes 4 mm in length, whereas those of one obtained on 14 March were 5 mm long.

Selected measurements (average, with extremes in parentheses) of 11 adults (seven males and four females) are as follows: length of forearm, 42.5 (41.5-43.7) mm; condylobasal length (10 specimens only), 14.8 (14.5-15.0) mm; zygomatic breadth, 14.8 (14.4-15.1) mm; interorbital breadth, 5.0 (4.7-5.2) mm; breadth across upper molars, 10.6 (10.5-11.0) mm; length of maxillary toothrow, 5.0 (4.8-5.3) mm.

These measurements generally agree with those given by Paradiso (1967:600) for 20 individuals from Panama. Females in our series average slightly larger than do males in external and cranial measurements. Six males weighed an average of 22.9 (20.7-25.1) gms; one nonpregnant female weighed 17.1 gms.

Diphylla ecaudata Spix, 1823

_Specimens._--_Boaco_: Los Cocos, 14 km S Boaco, 220 m, 5.

_Madriz_: 5 km N, 9 km E Condega, 800 m, 1. _Matagalpa_: 2 km N, 6 km E Esquipulas, 960 m, 1.

Our specimens const.i.tute the first report of this species from Nicaragua. We follow Burt and Stirton (1961:37) in regarding _D.

ecaudata_ as monotypic.

Specimens from Los Cocos (three males and two females) were captured in a mist net stretched across a large, quiet pool in a small stream. The banks supported well-developed gallery forest, the understory of which had been cleared for human habitation; gra.s.sland (grazed) and small stands of secondary forest obtained beyond the riparian habitat.

Domestic ducks, a possible source of food, were observed sleeping along the bank of this stream and on top of large boulders situated in the stream. Males from this locality taken on 20 February, 4 April, and 18 July had testicular lengths of 5, 6, and 6.5 mm, respectively. Two adult females collected there on 4 April were reproductively inactive.

An adult male (testes 6 mm) from near Condega was captured on 23 June in a daytime roost in a small, cave-like crevice (see account of _Peropteryx marcotis_), and one from northeast of Esquipulas (testes 5 mm) was netted on 14 March along a forest trail (see account of _Vampyressa pusilla_).

Natalus stramineus saturatus Dalquest and Hall, 1949

_Specimens._--_Granada_: 6 km S Nandaime, 5. _Zelaya_: S side Rio Mico, El Recreo, 25 m, 2.

This funnel-eared species occupies an extensive geographic range (northern Mexico to Brazil) but appears to be relatively rare in Middle America to the south of Guatemala. Our specimens represent the first of this species to be reported from Nicaragua.

Both specimens from El Recreo, adult males, were caught by hand at night after they flew through an open door into a small room, possibly seeking insects that were swarming around a light bulb. Those from near Nandaime (three males, two females) were caught in a mist net set over the mouth of a well in which they were roosting; the well was approximately 2 m in diameter, and the water level was about 5 m below the rim. The females were not reproductively active (6 August).

We have compared our Nicaraguan material with a number of Mexican specimens, including the holotype of _N. s. saturatus_ and topotypes of _N. s. mexica.n.u.s_. We concur with Goodwin (1959) that in Mexico there are two rather distinct subspecies, between which a broad zone of intergradation obtains. Our Nicaraguan specimens agree most closely with _N. s. saturatus_, and, until additional comparative material is available from Middle America, we tentatively refer them to that race.

Handley (1966b:770) and Starrett and Casebeer (1968:15), however, regarded _mexica.n.u.s_ as the appropriate name for specimens from Panama and Costa Rica.

Selected measurements of two males from El Recreo are: length of forearm, 41.2, 39.0 mm; greatest length of skull, 17.1, 16.5 mm; zygomatic breadth, 8.4, 8.5 mm; mastoid breadth, 7.7, 7.6 mm; breadth of braincase, 8.2, 8.1 mm; interorbital constriction, 3.2, 3.2 mm; length of maxillary toothrow, 7.3, 7.1 mm.

Myotis albescens (E. Geoffroy St.-Hilaire, 1806)

This handsome _Myotis_ has been reported previously from Nicaragua only from the Caribbean lowlands--from the Escondido and Prinzapolka rivers (Miller and Allen, 1928:203). We netted two specimens, both males, at Santa Rosa, 17 km N and 15 km E Boaco, 300 m, Boaco, in central Nicaragua on 13 July and 9 August 1967, under the same conditions described in the account of _Myotis elegans_. Testes of our specimens were 7 and 6 mm, respectively, in length. External and cranial measurements are as follows: total length, 84, 83 mm; length of tail, 31, 33 mm; length of hind foot, 9, 9 mm; length of ear, 15, 15 mm; length of forearm, 32.9, 35.1 mm; weight, 6.4, 6.2 gms; greatest length of skull, 13.9, 14.4 mm; zygomatic breadth, 8.9, 9.0 mm; pos...o...b..tal breadth, 3.8, 3.9 mm; breadth of braincase, 7.2, 7.3 mm; mastoid breadth, 7.4, 7.6 mm; breadth across upper molars, 5.6, 5.5 mm; length of maxillary toothrow, 5.3, 5.3 mm.

Myotis elegans Hall, 1962