Extension of the known geographic distribution of Lampronycteris brachyotis ( Dobson , 1879 ) ( Mammalia , Chiroptera , Phyllostomidae ) : first records from the Cerrado of the Brazilian Midwest , in the state of Mato Grosso

Lampronycteris brachyotis is known to occur at 12 localities in 11 Brazilian states, encompassing the Amazon, Caatinga, Cerrado, and Atlantic Forest biomes. Here, we report the capture of two specimens in gallery forests within the Cerrado of the state of Mato Grosso. These records expand the known range of L. brachyotis into the Brazilian Midwest.

Lampronycteris Sanborn, 1949 is a monotypic genus previously considered to be a subgenus of the genus Micronycteris (Nogueira et al. 2007).Its single species, the orange-throated big-eared bat, Lampronycteris brachyotis (Dobson, 1879), feeds mainly on insects, but may complement its diet with fruit, nectar, and pollen (Medellín et al. 1985;Weinbeer and Kalko 2004).In addition to the orange-colored fur on the neck ventral surface, this species also presents short pointed ears, forearm length ranging from 39 to 43 mm, and two large Y-shaped pads on the lower lip (Medellín et al. 1985;Nogueira et al. 2007;Reis et al. 2013).
Lampronycteris brachyotis is sensitive to habitat disturbance and tends to be associated to well-preserved areas (Medellín et al. 1983).In natural habitats, this species roosts in tree holes and small caves, and can forage far away from the roost, flying for up to three hours and covering long distances (e.g., 60 km) in a single night (Medellín et al. 1983;Weinbeer and Kalko 2004).
We captured two females of L. brachyotis (Figure 2), both in gallery forest habitats in the municipality of Barra do Garças, state of Mato Grosso.The first specimen was captured on 24 August 2013, at 19:00 h, in a gallery forest located on the edge of the Serra Azul State Park (PESA), a 11,000 ha area of Cerrado savanna (15°51′19.5″S, 052°15′14.4″W; 540 m).This specimen was captured during a 6-day bat survey at PESA, when ten ground-level mist nets (9 × 3 m) were opened each night, from nightfall to midnight.The second specimen was captured on 30 August 2013, at 21:30 h, on the slopes of the Serra do Roncador, near the BR-158 interstate highway, an area dominated by plantations The specimens were collected under the license no.18276 (IBAMA) and are preserved in 70% alcohol in the scientific collection of the Nova Xavantina campus of Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso (catalog numbers RM 353 and RM 361).They were identified based on their reddish coloration, forearm length, size and shape of ears and noseleaf, presence of two Y-shaped pads on lower lip, calcar length equal to foot length, and incisor characters (Vizotto and Taddei 1973;Mendellin et al. 1985;Williams and Genoways 2008;and Reis et al. 2013).External and cranial measurements (mm), taken as described by Vizotto and Taddei (1973), are as follows: forearm 42.2 and 42.9; greatest length of skull 20.8 and 20.9; condylocanine length 20.3 and 21.1; condylobasal length 20.7 and 21.4; maxillary toothrow length 8.3 and  8.9; zygomatic breadth 10.5 and 10.1; braincase width 8.7 and 8.8; mastoid width 9.4 and 9.0; postorbital width 4.9 and 5.3; width across molars 7.2 and 7.0; width across canines 3.7 and 4.4; greatest length of mandible 14.0 and 14.9, and length of mandibular toothrow 8.8 and 9.3.The specimens weighed 12 and 13 grams.
The new records from Mato Grosso extend the known distribution of L. brachyotis to central Brazil.There is another record from Mato Grosso, but in the Amazon biome (Figure 1), approximately 670 km north and west of the region of the present study (Miranda et al. 2015).Similarly, the only other record for the Cerrado biome is from a locality in the state of Tocantins (Tavares et al. 2008), about 800 km from our site.
Whereas Medellín et al. (1983) concluded that L. brachyotis may occur primarily in pristine habitats, our records were from degraded areas.The region of the middle Araguaia (eastern Mato Grosso), however, is of considerable biological importance, representing an Amazon-Cerrado ecotone.The chiropteran fauna of the vast majority of this region is still virtually unknown (Bernard et al. 2011).Irrespective of habitat disturbance, L. brachyotis appears to be associated to fluvial habitats, which not only provide relatively stable microclimates, but also tend to be relatively rich in feeding resources throughout the year (Ribeiro and Walter 2008).The records presented here further reinforce the need for new surveys, especially in Mato Grosso, which is highly diverse in ecological terms (Horta et al. 2002) and represents one of the least-studied regions for bats in Brazil (Bernard et al. 2011).

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Geographic distribution of Lampronycteris brachyotis in Brazilian biomes.The points represent previous records (the references are presented in the text) and the stars represent the new records for the Cerrado of the Brazilian Midwest, in the state of Mato Grosso (in black line).