DarkCideS 1.0, a global database for bats in karsts and caves

Tanalgo, Krizler C., Tabora, John Aries G., de Oliveira, Hernani Fernandes Magalhães, Haelewaters, Danny, Beranek, Chad T., Otálora-Ardila, Aída, Bernard, Enrico, Gonçalves, Fernando, Eriksson, Alan, Donnelly, Melissa, González, Joel Monzón, Ramos, Humberto Fernández, Rivas, Alberto Clark, Webala, Paul W., Deleva, Stanimira, Dalhoumi, Ridha, Maula, Jaycelle, Lizarro, Dennis, Aguirre, Luis F., Bouillard, Nils, Quibod, Ma. Niña Regina M., Barros, Jennifer, Turcios-Casco, Manfredo Alejandro, Martínez, Marcio, Ordoñez-Mazier, Diego Iván, Orellana, José Alejandro Soler, Ordoñez-Trejo, Eduardo J., Ordoñez, Danny, Chornelia, Ada, Lu, Jian Mei, Xing, Chen, Baniya, Sanjeev, Muylaert, Renata L., Dias-Silva, Leonardo Henrique, Ruadreo, Nittaya, Hughes, Alice Catherine (2022): DarkCideS 1.0, a global database for bats in karsts and caves. Scientific Data 9 (1): 155, DOI: 10.1038/s41597-022-01234-4, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01234-

First records of Mimon cozumelae Goldman, 1914 (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae) in the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve in northeastern Honduras

Mimon cozumelae Goldman, 1914 is a poorly studied phyllostomid bat with occurrence records in Honduras dating from 17 years ago. During a survey from 13–22 September 2018 in the core of the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve, northeastern Honduras, we captured two M. cozumelae in a sample of 43 individuals recognized in 11 bat species. These records represent the fifth and sixth localities of M. cozumelae in the country and the first record since 2001. We recommend that M. cozumelae be included in the conservation and management plan of the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve and in the conservation lists of bats in Honduras

Rediscovery of Vampyressa thyone (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae) in Honduras: updated distribution and notes on its conservation

In Central America, Vampyressa is represented by two species, Vampyressa elisabethae and V. thyone. The latter is the only representative of the genus in Honduras and the most recent record was in 2007. Six surveys were carried out in the Departments of Cortés, Atlántida and Gracias a Dios. Only seven individuals of V. thyone were recorded between March 2016 and September 2017. The low abundance of V. thyone supports the fact that it is an uncommon species in the country; however, these records update the distribution in northern Honduras. We recommend systematic bat assessments on the three protected areas in which we recorded V. thyone for a better comprehension of the local populations on this species in the country

Filling a gap in the distribution of the Berthold’s Bush Anole, Polychrus gutturosus (Squamata, Polychrotidae), in Honduras

The family Polychrotidae Fitzinger, 1843 is represented in Honduras by a single species, Polychrus gutturosus Berthold, 1845. This canopy dweller is distributed in the lowland moist forests and riparian forest within pine savannah of the northern and eastern regions of Honduras. Only 13 records and nine localities support the presence of the species in the country; therefore, the distribution and natural history of the species in Honduras is essentially unknown. Herein, we provide a new locality and natural history observations of a specimen captured in the core zone of the Reserva del Hombre y La Biosfera del Río Plátano. This record represents the north-western most occurrence of Polychrus gutturosus in a region known as the Mosquitia and fills an important distributional gap for this poorly known species

A systematic revision of the bats (Chiroptera) of Honduras: an updated checklist with corroboration of historical specimens and new records

During the last century, survey efforts for mammals in Honduras have been few and most distributional and conservation assessments of bats have been based on historical records. Taxonomy of many records has changed. Moreover, a number of supposed Honduran occurrences are based on records from bordering countries without confirmation by a Honduran voucher. Therefore, the list of bats of Honduras lacks precision. Here, we update the number of species in the country, including taxonomic changes not reflected in recent works and new records based on museum specimens. The known number of species for Honduras is 113 with seven expected (Cormura brevirostris, Lampronycteris brachyotis, Mesophylla macconnelli, Molossus coibensis, M. pretiosus, Thyroptera discifera and Trinycteris nicefori), based on records in adjoining countries. We provide a new record for Honduras of Natalus lanatus. We confirm the presence of Cynomops greenhalli and Diaemus youngii and clarify the taxonomic status of Artibeus intermedius, Chiroderma gorgasi, Eumops ferox, Gardnerycteris keenani, Lasiurus frantzii, Myotis pilosatibialis, Molossus and Pteronotus species, and Tonatia bakeri. We recommend a reassessment of the conservation status of the bats of Honduras considering recent changes and that a number of species (e.g. Choeronycteris mexicana) have not been observed since their reports in historical records. This requires an update of the taxonomic identification keys for Honduras. The updated checklist below demonstrates the high biodiversity of Honduran bats but is also an example of how poorly many groups have been studied since they were first recorded in the country

Rare or misidentified? On the external identification of the neglected Artibeus inopinatus Davis & Carter, 1964 (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae) in Honduras

For years, the identification of Artibeus species has been controversial due to the overlap of morphometric characteristics between species. From February 2015 to September 2019, we sampled 25 sites in 10 departments of Honduras, and captured 81 Artibeus individuals using mist-nets. We determined the morphometric measurements that may be helpful in the identification of adult individuals of the Honduran Fruit-eating Bat, Artibeus inopinatus, in the field. We analyzed 648 morphometric measurements using a linear discriminant analysis, and determined that the forearm length, third metacarpal length, the length of the second phalanx of digit III, and body length are the main characteristics for the external identification of A. inopinatus

Rare or misidentified? On the external identification of the neglected Artibeus inopinatus Davis & Carter, 1964 (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae) in Honduras

For years, the identification of Artibeus species has been controversial due to the overlap of morphometric characteristics between species. From February 2015 to September 2019, we sampled 25 sites in 10 departments of Honduras, and captured 81 Artibeus individuals using mist-nets. We determined the morphometric measurements that may be helpful in the identification of adult individuals of the Honduran Fruit-eating Bat, Artibeus inopinatus, in the field. We analyzed 648 morphometric measurements using a linear discriminant analysis, and determined that the forearm length, third metacarpal length, the length of the second phalanx of digit III, and body length are the main characteristics for the external identification of A. inopinatus

Additions of host associations and new records of bat ectoparasites of the families Spinturnicidae, Nycteribiidae and Streblidae from Honduras

We captured mormoopids, phyllostomids, and vespertilionids in Honduras to collect bat ectoparasites. Two species of Spinturnicidae (Acari) are the first reports of this family in Honduras. One species of Basilia Miranda Ribeiro, 1903, and four of Streblidae are recorded for the first time in Honduras. With these results, the current species number of each family for Honduras are two species of Spinturnicidae, three of Nycteribiidae, and 48 of Streblidae. We compared the number of species of Streblidae and bats in Honduras to highly sampled countries in Central and South America. Clearly, more effort is still needed in Honduras, although this is the third attempt to study the bat ectoparasites in Honduras

DarkCideS 1.0, a global database for bats in karsts and caves.

Understanding biodiversity patterns as well as drivers of population declines, and range losses provides crucial baselines for monitoring and conservation. However, the information needed to evaluate such trends remains unstandardised and sparsely available for many taxonomic groups and habitats, including the cave-dwelling bats and cave ecosystems. We developed the DarkCideS 1.0 ( https://darkcides.org/ ), a global database of bat caves and species synthesised from publicly available information and datasets. The DarkCideS 1.0 is by far the largest database for cave-dwelling bats, which contains information for geographical location, ecological status, species traits, and parasites and hyperparasites for 679 bat species are known to occur in caves or use caves in part of their life histories. The database currently contains 6746 georeferenced occurrences for 402 cave-dwelling bat species from 2002 cave sites in 46 countries and 12 terrestrial biomes. The database has been developed to be collaborative and open-access, allowing continuous data-sharing among the community of bat researchers and conservation biologists to advance bat research and comparative monitoring and prioritisation for conservation