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Range extension to Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas province and revised distribution of Platyrrhinus chocoensis (Phyllostomidae: Chiroptera) in western Ecuador

Abstract

We report the first record of the Choco broad-nosed bat (Plathyrrhinus chocoensis Alberico & Velazco, 1991) in Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas province in northwestern Ecuador. This voucher specimen represents the southernmost record of the species and expands its distribution ca. 120 km south. The animal was caught at a farm, specifically in a live fence consisting of several tree species. Preservation of bat species occurring in agricultural landscapes requires local policies and environmental education.

Key-Words.
Mammalia; Bats; Biogeography; New record; Ecuador

INTRODUCTION

Located in the northwestern Pacific coast of South America, the Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena bioregion is one of 25 world hotspots due to its high biodiversity (Mittermeier et al., 1999Mittermeier, R.A.; Mittermeier, C.G. & Myers, N. 1999. Hotspots: Earth’s biologically richest and most endangered terrestrial ecoregions. México DF, Conservation International, CEMEX, S.A. de C.V., Agrupación Sierra Madre.; Myers et al., 2000Myers, N.; Mittermeier, R.A.; Mittermeier, C.G.; da Fonseca, G.A.B. & Kent, J. 2000. Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Nature, 403: 853-858.). This bioregion includes the Chocó-Darien moist forests (Chocó) located on the Pacific coast of northwestern Ecuador (Myers et al., 2000). Ecuador, despite its small area, displays high mammalian diversity, with 424 species (Tirira, 2016Tirira, D.G. 2016. Mamiferos del Ecuador: lista actuaizada de especies / Mammals of Ecuador: updated species check list. Version 2016. Ecuador, Asociación Mamíferos y Conservación and Asociación Ecuatoriana Mastozoología. 28p. Available at: Available at: www.mamiferosdelecuador.com/images/pdf/Lista22016.pdf . Access in: 15/08/2017.
www.mamiferosdelecuador.com/images/pdf/L...
). The order Chiroptera is the most numerous (Tirira, 2007; Albuja, 2011Albuja, L. 2011. Lista de mamíferos actuales del Ecuador. Quito, Ecuador Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas. Escuela Politécnica Nacional. Available at: Available at: http://bibdigital.epn.edu.ec/handle/15000/3843 . Access in: 04/02/2016.
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), with 171 species (Tirira, 2016) found in all zoogeographical zones in Ecuador (Albuja, et al., 2012Albuja, L.; Almendariz, A.; Barriga, S.; Montalvo, L.D.; Cáceres, F. & Román, J.L. 2012. Fauna de vertebrados del Ecuador. Quito, Ecuador, Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas, Escuela Politécnica Nacional.). More specifically, the northwestern forests house at least 85 species (Tirira, 2008; Burneo & Tirira, 2014Burneo, S.F. & Tirira, D.G. 2014. Murciélagos de Ecuador: un análisis de sus patrones de riqueza, distribucion y aspectos de conservación. Therya, 5(1): 197-184.), of which at least 20 have been recorded in agricultural landscapes (Pozo-Rivera & Eras, 2012Pozo-Rivera, W.E. & Eras, A. 2012. Bats present in riparian forests in farms in Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, Ecuador. In: Tirira D.G. & Burneo, S.F. (Eds.). Investigación y conservación sobre los murciélagos en el Ecuador. Quito, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Fundación Mamíferos y Cnservación y Asociación Ecuatoriana de Mastozoología. p. 61-68.; Pozo-Rivera, 2013Pozo-Rivera, W.E.; Recalde, R.S.; Cárdenas-Tello, C.D.; Morejón-García, M. & Berovides-Álvarez, V. 2015. Diversidad quiropterológica de dos tipos de cultivos, Noroccidente Ecuatoriano. CIBA, Boletín Técnico 12, Serie Zoológica, 10-11: 95-103.; Pozo-Rivera et al. 2015).

Ecuador Choco extends from the province of Esmeraldas to the Pasado cape in the province of Manabí (Boada, 2006Boada, C. 2006. El Chocó biogeográfico. Ecuador terra incognita. Nº 40. Available at: Available at: www.terraecuador.net/revista_40/40_choco.htm . Access in: 11/04/2016.
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). On the eastern side, it includes the lowlands of Carchi, Imbabura, Pichincha (Botero-Chica, 2010Botero-Chica, C.A. 2010. El Choco biogeográfico, un tesoro de la naturaleza. Available at: Available at: www.ecoportal.net/Temasespeciales/Biodiversidad/el_choco_biogeografico_un_tesoro_de_la_naturaleza . Access in: 11/04/2016.
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), and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas to reach the Troncal locality in the province of Guayas. Ecuadorian Choco contains 9,000 species of vascular plants, 120 amphibians, 100 reptilians, 600 avians (Botero-Chica, 2010), and 167 mammals (Tirira, 2008Tirira, D.G. 2008. Mamíferos de los bosques húmedos del noroccidente de Ecuador. Quito, Ediciones Murciélago Blanco y Proyecto PRIMENET. (Publicación Especial 7).; Jarrín-V & Kunz, 2011Jarrín-V, P. & Kunz, T.H. 2001. A new species of Sturnira (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) from the Choco forest of Ecuador. Zootaxa, 2755: 1-35.; Moratelli & Wilson, 2011Moratelli, R. & Wilson, D.E. 2011. A new species of Myotis Kaup, 1829 (Chiroptera, Vespertiolinidae) from Ecuador. Mammalian Biology, 76: 608-614.). It is estimated that only 12.5% of pre-European contact, western Ecuadorian forests are conserved (Sierra et al., 2002Sierra, R.; Campos, F. & Chamberlin, J. 2002. Assessing biodiversity conservation priorities: ecosystems risk and representativeness in continental Ecuador. Landscape and Urban Planning, 59: 95-110.; Boada, 2006). Causes of forest loss include expansion of agriculture, logging, population growth (Huttel, 1999Huttel, C.; Zebrowski, C. & Gondard, P. 1999. Paisajes agrarios del Ecuador, geografía básica del Ecuador. Quito, Institut de Recherche por le Développement, Instituto Panamericano de Geografía e Historia, Institut Français d’Études Andines, Instituto Geográfico Militar, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador. v. 5), mining (Paredes, 2010Paredes, K. 2010. El video participativo como herramienta de aprendizaje y reflexión sobre el cambio social. Gestion Ambiental, 1(2): 13-16.), and tourism (Cueva-Arroyo et al., 2013Cueva-Arroyo, X.A.; Pozo-Rivera, W.E. & Peck, M.R. 2013. Chiroptera of Junin, with the first record of Vampyrum spectrum (Linnaeus, 1758) for the province of Imbabura - Ecuador. Cobiofrag IASA Boletín Técnico 11, Serie Zoológica, 8-9: 1-15.). Although several private and state protected areas (MAE, 2015MAE - Ministerio de Ambiente del Ecuador. 2015. Sistema nacional de áreas protegidas del Ecuador. Available at: Available at: http://areasprotegidas.ambiente.gob.ec . Access in: 18/04/2016.
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) have been established in the zone, monocultural agrosystems (Huttel, 1999) threaten the local ecology (Zuppinger-Dingley et al., 2015Zuppinger-Dingley, D.; Flynn, D.F.B.; Brandl, H. & Schmid, B. 2015. Selection in monoculture vs. mixture alters plant metabolic fingerprints. Journal of Plant Ecology, 8(5): 549-557.).

The broad-nosed bats of the genus Platyrrhinus (subfamily Stenodermatinae, family Phyllostomidae) live in tropical lowland and montane forests up to 2,550 m asl (Velazco & Gardner, 2009Velazco, P.M. & Gardner, A.L. 2009. A new species of Platyrrhinus (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) from western Colombia and Ecuador, with emended diagnoses of P. aquilus, P. dorsalis, and P. umbratus. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 122(3): 249-281.), from Mexico to northern Argentina (Gardner, 2007). Most species are essentially frugivorous but occasionally feed on insects, nectar, and pollen (Albuja, 1999Albuja, L. 1999. Murciélagos del Ecuador. 2.ed. Quito-Ecuador, Cicetronic Cía Ltda.) by gleaning in narrow forest areas (Kalko et al., 2008Kalko, E.K.V.; Estrada-Villegas, S.; Schmidt, M.; Wegmann, M. & Meyer, C.F.J. 2008. Flying high-assessing the use of the aerosphere by bats. Integrative and Comparative Biology, 48(1): 60-73.). The genus Platyrrhinus is morphologically distinguished by a fringe of hair on the edge of uropatagium, molars 3/3, and two accessory cusps on M2 (Tello & Velazco, 2003Tello, J.G. & Velazco, P.M. 2003. First description of a tent used by Platyrrhinus helleri (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae). Acta Chiropterologica, 5(2): 269-276.; Lim, 1993Lim, B.K. 1993. Cladistic reappraisal of Neotropical stenodermatine bat phylogeny. Cladistics, 9(2): 145-165.). Platyrrhinus currently contains 21 species (Simmons, 2005Simmons, N.B. 2005. Order Chiroptera. In: Wilson, D.E. & Reeder, D.M. (Eds.). Mammals species of the world: a taxonomic and geographic reference. 3.ed. Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 314-529.; Velazco & Gardner, 2009Velazco, P.M. 2005. Morphological phylogeny of the bat genus Platyrrhinus Saussure, 1860 (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) with the description of four new species. Fieldiana Zoology, n.s., 105: 1-54.; Velazco et al., 2010Velazco, P.M. & Lim, B.K. 2014. A new species of broad-nosed bat Platyrrhinus Saussure, 1860 (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) from the Guianan Shield. Zootaxa, 3796(1): 175-193.; Velazco & Lim, 2014Velazco, P.M., Gardner, A.L. & Patterson, B.D. 2010. Systematics of the Platyrrhinus helleri species complex (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae), with descriptions of two new species. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 159: 785-812.), of which 13 inhabit Ecuador (Albuja, 2011). Among these, P. chocoensis, P. dorsalis, P. helleri, P. lineatus, P. nitelinea, and P. matapalensis have been recorded in western Ecuador (Albuja, 2011).

The Choco broad-nosed bat Platyrrhinus chocoensis (Alberico & Velazco, 1991Alberico, M.S. & Velasco, E. 1991. Description of a new broad-nosed bat from Colombia. Bonner Zoologische Beiträge, 42: 237-239.) occurs in the lowlands of the Colombian and Ecuadorian Choco region, at elevations between 35 and 1,000 m. In Ecuador, the species is known from 29 localities (Appendix 1), with its southernmost record in Sade, Esmeraldas Province (00°31’04.0”N, 79°20’28.9”W) (Gardner, 2007Gardner, A.L. 2007. Genus Platyrrhinus Saussure, 1860. In: Gardner AL (Ed.). Mammals of South America: Marsupials, Xenarthrans, Shrews, and Bats. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press. v. 1, p. 329-342.; Ramirez-Chaves & Suárez-Castro, 2015Ramirez-Chaves, H. & Suárez-Castro, A. 2015. Platyrrhinus chocoensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015: e.T17568A21987035. Available at: file:///C:/Users/Dione/Downloads/10.2305_IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T17568A21987035.en.pdf. Access in: 11/03/2016.; Loaiza-S, unpublished data). The species is classified as Vulnerable A2c, because the population decline is probably closer to over 30% and habitat loss (Ramirez-Chaves & Suárez-Castro, 2015), but in Ecuador it is considered an endangered species (Burneo et al., 2015Burneo, S.F.; Proaño, M.D. & Tirira, D.G. 2015. Plan de acción para la conservación de los murciélagos del Ecuador. Quito-Ecuador, Programa para la Conservación de los Murciélagos del Ecuador y Ministerio del Ambiente del Ecuador.). Morphologically, Platyrrhinus chocoensis possesses buff facial stripes (no shine) (Albuja, 1999Albuja, L. 1999. Murciélagos del Ecuador. 2.ed. Quito-Ecuador, Cicetronic Cía Ltda.), a buff and undulated dorsal stripe, bicolored ventral fur (Gardner, 2007), genal vibrissae lacking a basal protuberance directly over the cheeks [a character evident only in specimens preserved in alcohol (Velazco, 2005)], one vibrissae on each side of the upper lip away from the baseline to seven vibrissae surrounding the noseleaf, one interramal vibrissae (Velazco, 2005), an inverted U-shaped posterior margin of the uropatagium, and the absence of a stylar cuspule on the lingual face of the M2 metacone (Gardner, 2007; Velazco & Gardner, 2009).

This communication reports on the first record of Platyrrhinus chocoensis for the province of Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, northwestern Ecuador and proposes a new geographical distribution for the species.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

We collected bats using mist nets in an agricultural landscape in western Ecuador from September, 2012 to March, 2015. Most were identified in situ, but those that were difficult to identify were sacrificed following guidelines of the American Society of Mammalogists for the use of wild mammals in research (Sikes et al., 2011Sikes, R.S.; Gannon, W.L. & The animal care and use Committee of the American Society of Mammalogists. 2011. Guidelines of the American Society of Mammalogists for the use of wild mammals in research. Journal of Mammalogy, 92(1): 235-253.) and the specifications outlined in the Authorization of Scientific Research № 10-2013-IC-FAU-DPAP-MA granted by the Ministry of Environment of Ecuador. Voucher specimens were deposited at the Museo de Investigaciones Zoológicas del IASA, Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas (MIZI). We identified specimens at the genus level following Jones & Carter (1976Jones, J.K. & Carter, D.C. 1976. Annotated checklist, with keys to subfamilies and genera. In: Baber, R.J.; Jones Jr., J.K. & Carter, D.C. (Eds.). Biology of bats of the new world family Phyllostomidae. Lubbock TX, Museum Texas Tech University. pt. 1, p. 7-38.), Albuja (1999Albuja, L. 1999. Murciélagos del Ecuador. 2.ed. Quito-Ecuador, Cicetronic Cía Ltda.) and Tirira (2007Tirira, D.G. 2007. Mamíferos del Ecuador: guía de campo. Quito, Ediciones Murciélago Blanco. (Publicación Especial 6).), and used Gardner (2007Gardner, A.L. 2007. Genus Platyrrhinus Saussure, 1860. In: Gardner AL (Ed.). Mammals of South America: Marsupials, Xenarthrans, Shrews, and Bats. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press. v. 1, p. 329-342.) and Velazco & Gardner (2009Velazco, P.M. & Gardner, A.L. 2009. A new species of Platyrrhinus (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) from western Colombia and Ecuador, with emended diagnoses of P. aquilus, P. dorsalis, and P. umbratus. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 122(3): 249-281.) for species identification.

For comparative purposes, we also examined 31 specimens of P. chocoensis deposited in the Museo Ecuatoriano de Ciencias Naturales (MECN), Museo de Zoología de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Quito (QCAZ), Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas de la Escuela Politécnica Nacional (MEPN), Museum of Texas Tech University (TTU), and Museo de Investigaciones Zoológicas (MIZI) (Appendix 1). Additionally, we measured 17 cranial variables following Velazco & Gardner (2009Velazco, P.M. & Gardner, A.L. 2009. A new species of Platyrrhinus (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) from western Colombia and Ecuador, with emended diagnoses of P. aquilus, P. dorsalis, and P. umbratus. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 122(3): 249-281.). We calculated descriptive statistics of cranial and postcranial measurements using InfoEstat® (Balzarini et al., 2013Balzarini, M.G.; Gonzalez, L.; Tablada, M.; Casanoves, F.; Di Rienzo, J.A. & Robledo C.W. 2013. InfoStat: manual del usuario. Córdoba-Ar., Editorial Brujas.). We modeled the species habitat and potential distribution using Maximum Entropy Modeling (Maxent) (Phillips et al., 2006Phillips, S.J.; Anderson, R.P. & Schapire, R.E. 2006. Maximum entropy modeling of species geographic distributions. Ecological Modeling, 190: 231-259.), and we calculated home range based on historical records of the species in Ecuador using Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP). Environmental variables were downloaded from www.worldclim.org (Hijmans et al., 2005Hijmans, R.J.; Cameron, S.E.; Parra, J.L.; Jones, P.G. & Jarvis, A. 2005. Very high resolution interpolated climate surfaces for global land areas. International Journal of Climatology, 25: 1965-1978.) in format ESRI grind ca 1 km. To increase modeling accuracy, we performed 10 replicates, 500 interactions, and 10,000 background points.

RESULTS

On February 8, 2012, RAB and WEPR collected-in a life fence at San Antonio Farm (Ecuador) a bat specimen initially identified as Vampyrodes caracciolli based on the presence of two central, markedly convergent incisors (Pozo-Rivera, 2013Pozo-Rivera, W.E. 2013. Mamíferos de hábitats fragmentados de la provincia Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas. Sangolquí-Ecuador, Edi-ESPE.). The specimen was deposited under museum number MIZI 2012397. However, during a recent curation of the mammal collection in MIZI, WEPR and KYA found errors with the identification of the voucher and reassigned it to Platyrrhinus chocoensis (Fig. 1) based on Gardner (2007Gardner, A.L. 2007. Genus Platyrrhinus Saussure, 1860. In: Gardner AL (Ed.). Mammals of South America: Marsupials, Xenarthrans, Shrews, and Bats. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press. v. 1, p. 329-342.) and Velazco & Gardner (2009Velazco, P.M. & Gardner, A.L. 2009. A new species of Platyrrhinus (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) from western Colombia and Ecuador, with emended diagnoses of P. aquilus, P. dorsalis, and P. umbratus. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 122(3): 249-281.).

Figure 1
Frontal (A) and lateral (B) views of a live specimen of Platyrrhinus chocoensis collected by WEPR and RAB in San Antonio Farm (voucher number MIZI2012397).

The specimen of Platyrrhinus chocoensis was collected at the San Antonio Farm, located close to the boundary of the Los Rios and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas provinces (00°31’32.0”S, 79°19’21.3”W), at an elevation of 327 m asl (Fig. 2), and was identified as an adult male. The animal was caught by mist nets placed over a biodiverse life fence composed of several plant species (Erythrina smithiana, Citrus spp., Coffea arabiga, Jatropa curcas, and others). Other bat species collected at the same farm were Artibeus aequatorialis, Carollia brevicauda, C. perspicillata, Chiroderma villosum, Glossophaga soricina, Myotis riparius, Sturnira lilium, and Vampyriscus nymphaea (Pozo-Rivera, 2017Pozo-Rivera, W.E. 2017. Relaciones de la diversidad arbórea y la estructura del paisaje agrícola tropical ecuatoriano con la biodiversidad de murciélagos filostómidos. Ph.D. Dissertation. Universidad de La Habana, La Habana.). This record extends the range distribution of Platyrrhinus chocoensis ca. 120 km south, away from its currently recognized distribution area (Gardner, 2007Gardner, A.L. 2007. Genus Platyrrhinus Saussure, 1860. In: Gardner AL (Ed.). Mammals of South America: Marsupials, Xenarthrans, Shrews, and Bats. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press. v. 1, p. 329-342.; Ramirez-Chaves & Suárez-Castro, 2015Ramirez-Chaves, H. & Suárez-Castro, A. 2015. Platyrrhinus chocoensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015: e.T17568A21987035. Available at: file:///C:/Users/Dione/Downloads/10.2305_IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T17568A21987035.en.pdf. Access in: 11/03/2016.).

Figure 2
Predictive habitat model using Maxent (AUC value = 0.987), based on 31 specimens with accurate collection sites (black circles) and the new record of Platyrrhinus chocoensis. The shadow under the predictive model corresponds to home range extension before our record. The star represents the new southernmost record reported in this communication.

The predictive model using Maxent, based on 31 specimens with accurate collection sites, is shown in Fig. 2; the area under curve (AUC) value of receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was 0.987. Based on these reports, the home range of the species, calculated by minimum convex polygon, reaches 14,904.7 km² (Fig. 2). Environmental variables which most influenced the distribution modeling were minimum temperature of coldest month (69%), and temperature annual range (8.1%).

The cranial and postcranial measurements of the specimen fell within the range of the Colombian (Velazco & Gardner, 2009Velazco, P.M. & Gardner, A.L. 2009. A new species of Platyrrhinus (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) from western Colombia and Ecuador, with emended diagnoses of P. aquilus, P. dorsalis, and P. umbratus. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 122(3): 249-281.) and Ecuadorian specimens (Table 1). Based on the P. chocoensis vouchers deposited in MECN, QCAZ, TTU, and on our record, we propose that the new species distribution extends to Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas province (Fig. 2). Furthermore, according to Burneo & Tirira (2014Burneo, S.F. & Tirira, D.G. 2014. Murciélagos de Ecuador: un análisis de sus patrones de riqueza, distribucion y aspectos de conservación. Therya, 5(1): 197-184.), it may extend to the Los Rios Province and may reach the lowland moist forests of the Los Guayas Province, considering the similar ecological characteristics of these forests.

Table 1
Comparative cranial and postcranial measurements of P. chochoensis from San Antonio farm in Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas Province (MIZI2012397), from published work by Velazco & Gardner (2009Velazco, P.M. & Gardner, A.L. 2009. A new species of Platyrrhinus (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) from western Colombia and Ecuador, with emended diagnoses of P. aquilus, P. dorsalis, and P. umbratus. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 122(3): 249-281.), and from specimens deposited in mammalian collections in Ecuador [mean ± SD, range (number of specimens)]. Measurement acronyms are explained in Appendix 2.

DISCUSSION

Vertebrate and invertebrate distribution extension records are not uncommon across the Americas and are mainly based on studies of Natural Reserve Areas (Pereira, 2010Pereira, L.A. 2010. First record of a ballophilid centipede from French Guiana with a description of Ityphilus betschi sp. nov. (Myriapoda: Chilopoda: Geophilomorpha). Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia, 50(42): 643-665.; Gregory et al., 2015Gregory, T.; Lunde, D.; Zamora-Meza, H.T. & Carrasco-Rueda, F. 2015. Records of Coendou ichillus (Rodentia, Erethizontidae) from the Lower Urubamba Region of Peru. ZooKeys, 509: 109-121.; Pachelle et al., 2015Pachelle, P.P.G.; Anker, A. & Tavares, M. 2015. New and additional records of the sponge shrimp genus Typton Costa, 1844 (Decapoda: Palaemonidae) from the Brazilian coast. Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia, 55(22): 317-322.; Medina et al., 2016Medina, C.E.; Pino, K.; Pari, A.; Llerena, G.; Zeballos, H. & López E. 2016. Mammalian diversity in the savanna from Peru, with three new addictions from country. Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia, 56(2): 9-26.; Sikes & Allen, 2016Sikes, D.S. & Allen, R.T. 2016. First Alaskan records and a significant northern range extension for two species of Diplura (Diplura, Campodeidae). ZooKeys, 563: 147-157.). This is also the case in Ecuador, where most field studies on Chiroptera were conducted in areas belonging to the National System of Protected Areas (Baker et al., 2009Baker, R.J.; Molly, M.; McDonough, M.M.; Swier, V.J.; Larsen, P.A.; Carrera, J.P. & Ammerman, L.K. 2009. New species of bonneted Bat, genus Eumops (Chiroptera: Molossidae) from the Lowlands of Western Ecuador and Peru. Acta Chiropterologica, 11(1): 1-13.; Loaiza-S, 2010Loaiza-S, C.R. 2010. Primer registro de Artibeus fraterculus (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) en una zona de matorral húmedo montano en la provincia de Loja, Ecuador. Boletín Técnico 9, Serie Zoológica, 6: 78-84. (Publicacion Cientifica del Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida - Ecuador); Moratelli & Wilson, 2011Moratelli, R. & Wilson, D.E. 2011. A new species of Myotis Kaup, 1829 (Chiroptera, Vespertiolinidae) from Ecuador. Mammalian Biology, 76: 608-614.). This leaves agricultural areas, and agrosystems in general, open to scrutinized fieldwork with potentially interesting findings on bat distribution. In effect, absence of bat distributional data in areas affected by human activities may be mainly due to lack of monitoring effort, considering their floristic and climatic similarities to non-anthropogenically impacted areas. It is thus very likely to expect distribution extension records of bats in such areas, as with the present report. The Ecuadorian Rain Forests belonging to the Choco-Darien ecoregion were originally settled in the Esmeraldas, Manabí, Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, Los Rios, Western Pichincha and Eastern Guayas Provinces (CEPF, 2005CEPF - Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund. 2005. Ecosystem profile: Chocó-Manabí conservation corridor Colombia and Ecuador. Crytical Ecosystems Partnership Fund. Available at: Available at: www.cepf.net/sites/default/files/final.chocodarienwesternecuador.chocomanabi.briefingbook.pdf . Access in: 26/03/2016.
www.cepf.net/sites/default/files/final.c...
), so a record of endemic Chocoan species was to be expected in any locality of these provinces. In fact, Burneo & Tirira (2014Burneo, S.F. & Tirira, D.G. 2014. Murciélagos de Ecuador: un análisis de sus patrones de riqueza, distribucion y aspectos de conservación. Therya, 5(1): 197-184.) predicted the potential southern extent in the distribution of P. chocoensis before the present report.

Ramirez-Chaves & Suarez-Castro (2015Ramirez-Chaves, H. & Suárez-Castro, A. 2015. Platyrrhinus chocoensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015: e.T17568A21987035. Available at: file:///C:/Users/Dione/Downloads/10.2305_IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T17568A21987035.en.pdf. Access in: 11/03/2016.) report that P. chocoensis occurs in the lowlands of southern Panama and the Pacific region of Colombia, south to northwestern Ecuador. However, according to our observations on specimens deposited in museums made before this report, P. chocoensis in Ecuador occurred only in the Esmeraldas province.

Considering the ecological similarities across ecosystems (Drechsler et al., 2007Drechsler, M.; Grimm, V.; Mysiak, J. & Watzold, F. 2007. Differences and similarities between ecological and economic models for biodiversity conservation. Ecological Economics, 62(2): 232-241.), many mammals demonstrate very wide distribution ranges, such as the recent record of Coendu istichillus (Voss & da Silva, 2001Voss, R.S. & da Silva, M.N.F. 2001. Revisionary notes on the Neotropical porcupines (Rodentia: Erethizontidae) 2: a review of the Coendou vestitus group with descriptions of two new species from Amazonia. American Museum Novitates, 3351: 1-36.) at 900 km away from the known boundaries of its previously recognized distribution area (Gregory et al., 2015Gregory, T.; Lunde, D.; Zamora-Meza, H.T. & Carrasco-Rueda, F. 2015. Records of Coendou ichillus (Rodentia, Erethizontidae) from the Lower Urubamba Region of Peru. ZooKeys, 509: 109-121.). In fact, the scientific literature argues that the majority of range extension records are due to lack of monitoring effort (Rocha et al., 2013Rocha, P.A.; Mikalauskas, J.S.; Bocchiglieri, A.; Feijó, J.A. & Ferrari, S.F. 2013. An update on the distribution of the Brazilian funnel-eared bat, Natalus acrourus (Gervais, 1856) (Mammalia, Chiroptera), with new records from the Brazilian Northeastern. Check List, 9(3): 675-679.; Salas et al., 2013Salas, J.A.; Viteri-H, F.; Zambrano-M, M.; Benavides-H, V. & Carvajal-M, R. 2013. Distribution extension of proboscis bat Rhynchonycteris naso (Wied-Neuwied, 1820) (Chiroptera: Emballonuridae): New record for southwestern Ecuador. Check List, 9(5): 1054-1056., Novaes et al., 2014Novaes, R.L.M.; Souza, R.F.; Felix, S.; Jacob, G.; Sauwen, C. & Avilla, L.S. 2014. Occurrence of Phyllostomus elongatus (Geoffroy St.-Hilaire, 1810) (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae) in the Cerrado of Tocantins and a compilation of its Brazilian distribution. Check List, 10(1): 213-216.). On the other hand, one should also consider that landscape and ecosystem anthropogenic modifications may further contribute to range extension. The present record of P. chocoensis was noted in an altered zone occupied by agricultural landscape, and this may indicate that some species are in the process of adapting to environmental changes (Darwin, 1869Darwin, C. 1869. On the origins of species by means of natural selections. London, Jhon Murray Albemarle Streeth.; Hansen et al., 2001Hansen, A.J.; Neilson, R.P.; Dale, V.H.; Flather, C.H.; Iverson, L.R.; Currie D.J.; Shafer, S.; Cook, R. & Bartlein, P.J. 2001. Global change in forests: responses of species, communities, and biomes. BioScience, 51(9): 765-769.; Schmidt & Jensen, 2003Schmidt, N.M. & Jensen, P.M. 2003. Changes in mammalian body length over 175 years: adaptations to a fragmented landscape? Conservation Ecology, 7(2): 6.).

Northwestern Ecuadorian ecosystems have been greatly changed by agriculture (Maestri & Paterson, 2016Maestri, R. & Patterson, B.D. 2016. Patterns of species richness and turnover for the South American rodent fauna. PLoS ONE, 11(3): e0151895.). The finding of vulnerable species such as P. chocoensis in these areas places a great responsibility on conservationists and environmental scientists and educators. Joint actions are necessary to effectively conserve mammal species in agricultural landscapes. A special concern involves educating local stakeholders on the important ecological role of bats, especially the species directly linked to agricultural production, as landholders and farmworkers believe that bats are harmful, extracting blood from cattle or destroying fruit plantations. This results in an intentional and significant decline in bat populations around farms, rendering their protection and conservation in agrosystems a difficult but crucial task, requiring local policies to undertake appropriate bat conservation programs.

Several farms implement life fences, dispersed tree cover pastures, forest fragments, and riparian forest to promote wildlife conservation on agroecosystems (Vilchez-Mendoza et al., 2014Vilchez-Mendoza, S.; Harvey, C.A.; Saenz, J.C.; Casanoves, F.; Carvajal, J.P.; Gonzalez-Villalobos, J.; Hernandez, B.; Medina, A.; Montero, J.; Sanchez-Merlo, D. & Sinclair, F.L. 2014. Consistency in bird use of tree cover across tropical agricultural landscapes. Ecological Applications, 24(1): 158-168.). These ecological production alternatives do not guarantee the survival of the species on farms, however. Many bats are killed by smoke from fires set by landholders who are unaware of the ecological importance of bats for pest control, pollination, and seed dispersal.

CONCLUSIONS

The distribution of Platyrrhinus chocoensis extends to the province of Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, Ecuador. Furthermore, taking into account similarities between ecosystems, the species may also inhabit rain forests or agroecological farms of Los Rios Province up to the western rain forests of Los Guayas Province. Considering its Vulnerable status, developing conservation measures such as environmental education campaigns is crucial to raise awareness of the importance of bats for crops in agricultural areas to guarantee the continuality of this range.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This article is part of WEPR’s dissertation submitted to the Universidad de la Habana as partial fulfillment of his doctoral degree. The Vicerrectorado de Investigaciones of the Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE (Ecuador) supported field studies. Many thanks go to the following curators and collections staff for providing specimens under their responsibility: Miguel Pinto and Pablo Moreno (MEPN), Jorge Brito (MECN), and Santiago Burneo (QCAZ). Bryan Medina, a volunteer at MIZI, and Jocelyne Yazán of Universidad Central del Ecuador, helped take measurements of skulls deposited in MEPN and MECN. Dionisios Youlatos of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece) reviewed the preliminary English version and gave us useful technical comments. The final English version was reviewed by Andrea Jones of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (USA).The authors declare no conflict of interest during this work.

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  • 1
    Edited by: Luis Fabio Silveira
  • Published with the financial support of the "Programa de Apoio às Publicações Científicas Periódicas da USP"
  • 3
    Seção de Publicações - Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo

APPENDIX 1

Examined specimens deposited in Ecuadorian museum

Museum acronyms are found in the methodology section, localities are present as follow:

PROVINCE (Number of specimens)

County:

Parish,

Locality, Latitude, Longitude: MUSEUM NUMBER (F = female, M = male, U = Unknown sex).

CARCHI (5)

Tulcán:

Tobar Donoso,

Vía Lita Bosque Maduro, 01°09’27.0”N, 78°29’50.3”W: MECN2884 (F), MECN2872 (M), MECN3263 (M), MECN2913 (F), MECN without voucher number (U).

ESMERALDAS (43)

Eloy Alfaro:

La tola,

Molina stream, 2 km south Mataje, 01°07’45.6”N, 79°06’46.4”W: MEPN004320 (U), MEPN004323 (M).

Luis Vargas Torres,

2 km south Playa de Oro; 00°51’56.7”N, 78°48’04.6”W: MEPN3177 (F), MEPN3178 (F), MEPN1923 (F), MEPN001924 (U), MEPN6678 (M).

Telembi,

3 km south San Miguel town; 00°43’00”N, 78°55’08”W: MEPN3013 (F), MEPN3072 (F), MEPN3075 (F).

Poblado San Miguel; 00°43’47.8”N, 78°55’08.9”W: MEPN003263 (F).

Salto del Rio Bravo; 00°40’53.4”N, 78°56’46.1”W: MEPN9133 (F), MEPN9134 (M), MEPN2110 (M), MEPN2121 (F).

Muisne:

San Francisco,

Chipa stream; 00°42’26.0”N, 80°02’ 33.7”W: MECN3073 (M).

El Aguacate stream; 00°39’12.5”N, 80°03’06.8”W: MECN2081 (M).

Inés stream; 00°40’54.7”N, 80°01’39.6”W: MECN3064 (M).

Partidero stream, Poza Honda; 00°42’32.8”N, 80°01’01.7”W: MECN3109 (F).

Quinindé:

Malimpia,

Sade Town, 8 km east of Sade river; 00°31’04.0”N, 79°20’28.9”W: MEPN3361 (U), MEPN003362 (F), MEPN3398 (5 specimens: 3F, 1M, 1U).

San Lorenzo:

San Lorenzo,

Crnl. Carlos Torres, Taquiama stream, right side Rio Tiaone, 00°43’N, 79°41’W: MEPN3459 (M).

Choco, San Lorenzo, 01°16’10.6”N, 78°50’38.1”W: QCAZ9208 (F).

Estación Experimental “La chiquita”, 12 km south San Lorenzo, 01°13’55.2”N, 78°45’57.7”W: MEPN002120 (F), TTU85426 (F), TTU???? (F).

Santa Rita,

San Francisco de Bogotá, 14 km east San Lorenzo, 01°05’36.8”N, 78°42’21.5”W: TTU???? (U).

San José farm 24 km east San Lorenzo, 01°00’36”N, 78°37’20”W: TTU???? (M).

Recinto Durango, Bloque Quijano; 01°07’00.2”N, 78°43’24.0”W: MECN2211 (F), MECN2239 (M), MECN2245 (M), MECN2238 (F), MECN2249 (F).

Tululbi,

Centro Comunal Mataje, North Awá Reserve, 01°04’00.0”N, 78°34’59.9”W: MEPN2050 (F), MEPN3673 (F), MEPN3700 (F).

Urbina,

Urbina, 01°02’N, 78°46’W: MEPN1931 (M), MEPN1932 (M).

SANTO DOMINGO DE LOS TSÁCHILAS (1)

Santo Domingo:

Luz de América,

Hacienda San Antonio, km 42, Road Santo-Domingo-Quevedo, 00°31’32.0”S, 79°19’21.0”W: MIZI2012397 (M).

APPENDIX 2

Meaning of acronym used in Table 1, for explain how to measure them see Velazco (2005) and Velazco & Gardner (2009)

HB = Head body length; F = foot length; E = ear length; FA = forearm length; W = weight expressed in mm; GLS = greatest length of skull; CCL = condylocanine length; CIL = condyloincisive length; BB = braincase breadth; ZB = zygomatic breadth; PB = postorbital breadth; MB = mastoid breadth; PL = palatal length; MLTRL = molariform toothrow length; MTRL = maxillary toothrow length; M1-M1 = width across first upper molars; M2-M2 = width across second upper molars; MXBR = breadth across maxillae; C-C = palatal width at canines; DENL = length of dentary; MANDL = length of mandibular toothrow; COH = coronoid height.

Publication Dates

  • Publication in this collection
    2018

History

  • Received
    21 Aug 2017
  • Accepted
    17 Jan 2018
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