The phyllostomid bats of the genus Carollia Gray

Abstract

The genus Carollia of the family Phyllostomidae is found to comsist of at least four species. These are C. perspicillata (Linnaeus), C. brevicauda (Wied), C. subrufa (Hahn), and C. castanes H. Allen. C. brevicauda has not been recognized as a species in its own right by modern authors although it is quite common in collections. C. perspicillata ramges from Veracruz to Paraguay. If one wishes to divide perspicillata into subspecies, the scheme recommended here is to treat populations north and west of the Amazon Basin as C. p. perspicillata, and those of the Parana drainage as C. p. tricolor (Miller). The other species are treated as being monotypic. C. brevicauda ranges from San Luis Potosi to Bolivia. In Middle America it seems to be primarily an inhabitant of the Gulf-Caribbean versant. C. subrufa ranges from Colima to Nicaragua and is characteristic of the Pacific versant. Its range is large complementary to that of brevicauda although the species are sympatric on the Caribbean side of Honduras. C. castanes ranges from Honduras to Bolivia. Synonymies are given for each species, and in addition all that is known of the species' natural history is summarized through a survey of the literature and from personal observations. It is postulated that the series C. perspicillata -- C. brevicauda -- C. subrufa -- C. castanea represents the sequence from least modifies to most highly modified from a common ancestor and further, that this sequence reflects the mutual affinities of the species. The extensive and broadly overlapping ranges of perspicillata, brevicauda, and castanea preclude fruitful speculation on the geographic origins of these species. The continental divide of Middle America would seem, however, to have provided the barrier to gene flow resulting in the differentiation of brevicauda and subrufa from a common ancestor.