First record of Vampyrodes caraccioli ( Thomas , 1889 ) ( Chiroptera , Phyllostomidae ) in the state of Amazonas and its updated distribution in Brazil

The present note reports the first record of Vampyrodes caraccioli in the Brazilian state of Amazonas, and the central Amazon region, based on 44 specimens caught in the Auati-Paraná Extractive Reserve, north bank of the Solimões/Amazonas River. Our record fills a distribution gap of this species in the Brazilian Amazon and illustrates that the current knowledge on the distribution of Amazonian bats is far from complete.

The genus Vampyrodes Thomas, 1900 currently includes two species, V. caraccioli (Thomas, 1889) and V. major Allen, 1908 (Velazco and Simmons 2011).Vampyrodes caraccioli can be easily distinguished from V. major by the following morphological characteristics: U-shaped uropatagium posterior margin with dense and short hair (> 2 mm) (V-shaped with dense and long hair in V. major [> 2 mm]); metacarpal III longer than metacarpal V (metacarpal III shorter than metacarpal V in V. major); two genal vibrissae present (three genal vibrissae in V. major); slender rostrum (broad and robust rostrum in V. major); parietal foramina well separated from the nuchal crest (parietal foramina are closer to the nuchal crest in V. major); groove between the occipital condyle and paracondylar process weakly developed (well developed in V. major); paraoccipital processes well developed (moderately developed in V. major); upper inner incisors broad (slender in V. major); M2 parastyle absent or poorly developed (well developed in V. major); M2 postentoconule absent or poorly developed (well developed in V. major); lower incisors are robust (slender in V. major); and absence of a cuspule on the m1 paracristid (cuspule present on the m1 paracristid in V. major) (Velazco and Simmons 2011).In most of the external and craniodental measurements V. caraccioli is smaller than V. major, but there is some overlap in measurements where smaller individuals of V. major have similar measurements than larger V. caraccioli individuals (Velazco and Simmons 2011).Vampyrodes major is distributed from southern Mexico (Chiapas and Oaxaca) southwards, passing through Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, western Colombia and Ecuador (Willis et al. 1990;Gardner 2008;Velazco and Simmons 2011).Vampyrodes caraccioli occurs in eastern Colombia, eastern Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname and Brazil (Willis et al. 1990;Velazco and Simmons 2011).Although it has an extensive distribution, V. caraccioli seems to be rare at lower latitudes and prefers moist and wet forests (Handley 1966;Gardner 2008;Velazco et al. 2010;Carvalho et al. 2014).
Here, we report for the first record of V. caraccioli from the state of Amazonas and provide an update on the distribution of the species in Brazil.
The specimens recorded here were collected during a bat inventory in the Auati-Paraná Extractive Reserve, state of Amazonas.Captures were performed using mist nets measuring 12 × 3 m, placed above the water column (depth of 1.5 m) at site 1 and set up at ground level at site 2. The nets were opened at 17:00 h, closed around 00:00 h, and checked every 30 minutes.Data collection was conducted with the authorization of the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation, under the license of System of Authorization and Information on Biodiversity 42.111-2.Ten specimens were collected and sacrificed following the protocols defined by the American Society of Mammalogy (Sikes et al. 2011).The voucher specimens were fixed in 4% The identification of specimens was based on the characters provided by Velazco and Simmons (2011) which are as follows: light to dark brown on the back, with lighter fur on the venter; presence of a distinct dorsal white stripe that runs from the top of the head to the base of the uropatagium; four distinct facial white stripes, with the suborbital stripes ranging from the corner of its mouth to the base of the ear, and the supraorbital stripes ranging from the noseleaf to above the ear (Figure 2); absence of a groove on the mesial portion of second upper premolar; presence of two upper molars and three lower molars; absence of lingual cingula on the metacones of M1 and M2; absence of a lingual cingulum on M1; and absence of a cusp on the mesial portion of the protocone on M1.
Our specimens represent the first record of V. caraccioli from the state of Amazonas and central Amazon.These records fill a gap in the distribution of this species in the Brazilian Amazon, whose closest record is more than 940 km to the southwest, at Seringal Lagoinha, state of Acre.
The bat fauna is among the richest among all of the mammal groups distributed in the Amazon (Voss and Emmons 1996).Despite being the biome with the largest number of species in Brazil, only 23.9% of the Brazilian Amazon is represented by at least one record of bats, and only 5.1% of its area is considered minimally sampled (Bernard et al. 2011a(Bernard et al. , 2011b;;Martins et al. 2011).Fragmented records of bats in the Amazon show that large gaps still need to be filled, including portions of northern and southern Amazonas state that are distant from the state capital at Manaus (Bernard et al. 2011b).Moreover, even in intensively sampled sites, such as the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project in Manaus (Sampaio et al. 2003), V. caraccioli has not been recorded.
We emphasize that although V. caraccioli is not commonly captured in Brazil, all specimens obtained here were collected within two evenings.This high number of specimens may be explained by the abundance of various fruiting trees in the study sites in proximity to the mist nets (e.g., Cecropia sp., Ficus sp., Piper sp., Pouteria sp., and Vismia sp.).In the other 18 days of the expedition in the primary forest, no other Vampyrodes specimen was captured.The records of V. caraccioli in the Cerrado biome (Aguiar 2000;Silva-Júnior et al. 2007;Sousa 2011) also contradict the belief that this species is a frugivore strictly associated with tropical rain forests (Gardner 1977(Gardner , 2008)).
Although the Amazon harbors 87% of Brazil's bat fauna, basic knowledge on the distribution of Amazon bats is far from complete, with intensive surveys at only a few sites and many areas without any surveys whatsoever (Bernard et al. 2011b).In fact, the Amazon is the region least sampled for bats, which emphasizes the need of further research to better understand basic knowledge on bat distribution (Bernard et al. 2011b).

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Known records of Vampyrodes caraccioli in Brazil.Numbers refer to entries in Table1.

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Photographs of a female specimen of V. caraccioli (IDSM 1182) collected in the Auati-Paraná Extractive Reserve.(A) live specimen, (B) dorsal views of the skull and mandible, (C) dorsolateral view of the skull, and (D) ventral view of the skull.Photos by Gerson P. Lopes.Scale bar = 2 mm.

Table 1 .
Locality records of Vampyrodes caraccioli in Brazil.The code number refers to the points shown in Figure1.