Bat survey of the lower Juruena River and five new records for the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil

Fauna de morcegos no baixo Rio Juruena, com cinco novos registros para o estado do Mato Grosso, Brasil

ABSTRACT

The northern Brazilian state of Mato Grosso is considered an important biogeographical region, but has many sampling gaps. Apart from the well-documented non volant mammal community in the region, the bat fauna still poorly recorded. The aim of this study was to record the bat species of Juruena National Park, northern Mato Grosso, Brazil. Nineteen sites were sampled using mist-nets placed at ground level and near potential bat roosts. We collected 115 individuals belonging to 35 species and five families, which increased the number of species known for Mato Grosso´s Amazon from 86 to 91. The five new records were: Peropteryx kappleri, Peropteryx leucoptera, Lonchorhina inusitata, Tonatia saurophila, and Artibeus concolor. Our results pointed out the necessity of more studies in order to better estimate the bat diversity in northern Mato Grosso.

Keywords:
Chiroptera; diversity; range extension; southern Amazon

RESUMO

O norte do estado do Mato Grosso é uma importante região para estudos biogeográficos com muitos hiatos de amostragem sendo a fauna de morcegos pobremente conhecida. O objetivo deste estudo foi fornecer uma lista de morcegos para o Parque Nacional do Juruena, norte do Mato Grosso, Brasil. Foram amostrados 19 sítios e empregadas redes-de-neblina ao nível do solo e próximos a abrigos potenciais de morcegos. Foram coletados 115 indivíduos representando 35 espécies e cinco famílias, aumentando de 86 para 91 o número de espécies conhecidas para a Amazônia no Mato Grosso. Houve cinco novos registros para a porção amazônica do estado: Peropteryx kappleri,Peropteryx leucoptera, Lonchorhina inusitata, Tonatia saurophila e Artibeus concolor. Os resultados indicam a necessidade de mais estudos para uma melhor estimativa da diversidade no norte do Mato Grosso.

Palavras-chave:
Chiroptera; diversidade; extensão de distribuição; sul da Amazônia

The southern and western Brazilian Amazon has long been considered a high priority area for scientific investigations, including basic information about its biodiversity (Bernard et al. 2011a; Louzada et al. 2015). Southern Brazilian Amazonia encompasses basically the southern portions of the states of Amazonas and Pará, and northern Mato Grosso. Since the 1970´s this area has been subject to a variety of anthropogenic impacts, including logging, mining, and the expansion of commercial and subsistence agriculture (Ferreiraet al. 2014). Mato Grosso has lost approximately 13 million hectares of forest (35 % of a total of 37 million hectares deforested in the Brazilian Amazônia) from 2001 to 2009 (MDIC 2012).The rapid regional expansion of human activities contrasts strongly with the paucity of data on biological communities in the area (Bernard et al. 2011a). As a result of the few studies conducted there, northern Mato Grosso was considered to have about 11 to 22 species of bats (Miranda-Ribeiro 1914; Bernard et al. 2011a). Recently, and applying a higher sampling effort, Mirandaet al. (2015) recorded 33 species along the middle Teles Pires River, which is a more realistic bat richness for an Amazonian site in Mato Grosso State.

Here we present data on a bat survey conducted during a REA (Rapid Ecological Assessment) in Juruena National Park (PNJu), northern Mato Grosso, which includes five new bat records for the state. PNJu has 1.9 million hectares and encompasses the municipalities of Apiacás, Nova Bandeirantes, Colniza and Cotriguaçu (Mato Grosso State), and Apuí and Maués (Amazonas State). The study site (8°55'35.32"S, 58°34'27.75"W) is located in a transitional zone between the rainforest of the Amazon biome and the savannah of the Cerrado biome.

The region is characterized by a flat topography with small patches of hilly terrain (elevation ranges from 40 m to 457 m, mean of 185 m a.s.l.). PNJu lies mostly within the Tapajós River basin, which is formed by two secondary sub-basins: the Juruena and Teles Pires-Arinos, but includes a small part of the Madeira River basin (Santos and Irgang 2008). The Park is covered predominantly with terra firme dense forest and flooded alluvial ombrophylous forests. Small patches of savannah and seasonal semi-deciduous forest also occur. An equatorial climate dominates the region, with temperatures between 24ºC and 26ºC. Rains are abundant and regular, with annual rainfall ranging from 2,000 to 2,500mm during a short dry season (June to September) and a rainy season from October to April. The annual mean humidity varies between 80% and 90% (ICMBio 2011).

Bats were sampled from 12 to 28 November 2007 and from 25 February to 15 March 2008, both during the rainy season. Bats were captured with mist nets placed in the understory, between flooded and terra-firme forests. Nets were operated on average for two nights per study site (19 study sites sampled; Table 2), totaling 38 sampled nights. Three seven meter nets were operated from 18:00 h until 00:00 h and total capture effort was 4,872 net-meter-hours. Some individuals were collected by searching diurnal roosts in tree cavities, foliage, culverts, and abandoned buildings. Bats were collected following the protocols of Sikes et al. (2011). Captures occurred under permission number SISBIO # 12171. Voucher specimens are presently housed at the Mammal Collection of the Universidade Federal de Lavras (CMUFLA) (Appendix 1).

A total of 115 individuals were collected (Table 1). Of the total collected specimens, 82 were captured in mist nets and 33 were captured in roosts (Tables 1 and 2). Thirty-five species from five families were recorded (Table 1), which is a number slightly higher than Miranda et al. (2015) (33 species and five families) for the middle Teles Pires River (MT). As in many other Amazonian bat inventories (e.g.,Simmons and Voss 1998; Lim et al. 2005; Miranda et al. 2015) the most diverse groups recorded were frugivore phyllostomids (14 species), animalivore phyllostomids (nine species), and insectivorous emballonurids (six species). Among the recorded species there are five new records for the state of Mato Grosso and a range extension for the southern Amazon basin, increasing the bat diversity from 86 (Bernardet al. 2011b; Louzadaet al. 2015) to 91 species (Table 1) for Amazonian Mato Grosso. The new records are:Peropteryx kappleri, P. leucoptera, Lonchorhina inusitata, Tonatia saurophila, and Artibeus concolor. Though Bernardet al. (2011b) included Carollia castanea in their list of bats for the Brazilian Amazon, Nogueiraet al. (2014) excluded that species from the Brazilian list and we therefore do not consider it to be present in Mato Grosso. Regarding the new records for the state of Mato Grosso, the closest record of P. kappleriis Beni (Bolivia) roughly 1,000 km southwest of PNJu; for P. leucoptera, Alter do Chão (Pará, Brazil) is 850 km northeast; for L. inusitata, Porto Velho (Rondônia, Brazil) is about 560 km west; forA. concolor, Altamira, Xingu river (Pará, Brazil) is 930 km northeast; and for T. saurophila, Cachoeira Nazaré (Rondônia, Brazil) is about 370 km west (Gardner 2008).

Table 1
List of bat species recorded to Juruena River, Mato Grosso State, Brazil. Roost = active search on the roosts; net = captured by mist-nets. Nomenclature and classificatory arrangement follows Nogueira et al. (2014).

* First record for the Mato Grosso State

Table 2
Localities, habitats, and bat species collected in the Juruena National Park, northern Mato Grosso State.

There were three specimens of Platyrrhinus angustirostris collected from here that were first mentioned in Nogueira et al. (2014) after identification confirmation by P. Velazco. The specimens had most of the diagnostic characters such as U-shaped uropatagium, metacarpal V longer than IV, and three stylar cusps on PM4. Some traits, however, were distinct from the original description of the species (Velazcoet al. 2010), in particular the reduced number of vibrissae (six instead eight) around the noseleaf.

PNJu has a strategic position in the Corredor de Conservação da Amazônia Meridional, ensuring environmental connectivity between protected areas in the far north of Mato Grosso, and making it one of the most effective strategies in controlling deforestation and conservation of Amazonian ecosystems (BRASIL 2004). In this sense, estimation of diversity and other basic information on fauna can be useful for conservation purposes, and despite the low sampling effort, which is common in Rapid Ecological Assessments, species richness was relatively high, and the highest for a single study site in Mato Grosso, to date. These results reinforce the need for inventories in areas with gaps in biogeographical and ecological knowledge, such as southern Amazonia. Furthermore, this enhances the role of PNJu for biodiversity conservation in the Southern Amazon.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study forms part of the Programa Áreas Protegidas da Amazônia (ARPA) initiative towards the management plans of Amazon protected areas, conducted by Ministério do Meio Ambiente (MMA), Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio), with the involvement of Fundo Global para o Meio Ambiente (GEF), Banco Mundial, Banco de Cooperação do Governo da Alemanha (KfW), Agência de Cooperação Alemã (GTZ), World Wildlife Found (WWF) Brasil, and Fundo Brasileiro para a Biodiversidade (FUNBIO).We thank Paul Velazco for specimens identification, Burton K. Lim and two anonymous referees for criticism on the first versions of the manuscript. This study is partially supported by CNPq (RG).

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APPENDIX 1 - LIST OF VOUCHER SPECIMENS THAT ARE FLUID-PRESERVED AND HOUSED AT CMUFLA.

Artibeus concolor: 1296; Artibeus lituratus: 1286, 1291, 1300, 1303, 1306-1308, 1311, 1312; Artibeus obscurus: 1287, 1288, 1301, 1302; Artibeus planirostris: 1279, 1280, 1286, 1292, 1294; Carollia benkeithi: 1238, 1239; Carollia brevicauda: 1242, 1246, 1257-1259; Carollia perspicillata: 1240, 1241, 1243-1245, 1247-1256; Chiroderma trinitatum: 1284; Chiroderma villosum: 1290, 1299; Chrotopterus auritus: 1270;Dermanura gnoma: 1278, 1281, 1283, 1293, 1295, 1304;Glossophaga soricina: 1321-1323; Lophostoma silvicolum: 1260, 1261, 1263, 1271, 1273, 1275; Lonchorhina inusitata: 1264, 1265; Mesophylla macconnelli: 1297; Micronycteris microtis: 1266; Myotis nigricans: 1324-1326; Noctilio albiventris: 1313, 1314; Peropteryx kappleri: 1218, 1221, 1226; Peropteryx leucoptera: 1320; Peropteryx macrotis: 1220, 1222-1225, 1233, 1234; Phylloderma stenops: 1276, 1277;Phyllostomus elongatus: 1274; Phyllostomus hastatus: 1267, 1272; Platyrrhinus angustirostris: 1298, 13009, 1310; Pteronotus parnelli: 1315, 1316, 1318, 1319;Pteronotus personatus: 1317; Rhinchonycterys naso: 1227-1229; Rhinophylla pumilio: 1236, 1237;Saccopteryx bilineata: 1217, 1230-1232, 1235;Saccopteryx leptura: 1327; Tonatia saurophila: 1269; Trachops cirrhosus: 1262;Uroderma bilobatum: 1282, 1305; Vampyressa thyone: 1285.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  Apr-Jun 2016

History

• Received
  12 Mar 2015
• Accepted
  04 Sept 2015