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Chek List

Mammalia, Chiroptera, Molossidae Molossops neglectus

Williams and Genoways, 1980: Range extension and first
record for Corrientes Province, Argentina

Rubén Marcos Barquez’, Alejandro Valentin Franzoy* and Maria Monica Diaz*

1 CONICET (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Técnicas)-PIDBA (Programa de Investigaciones de Biodiversidad Argentina), PCMA
(Programa de Conservacién de los Murciélagos de Argentina), Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e IML-Universidad Nacional de Tucuman. Miguel
Lillo 205, 4000. Tucuman, Argentina.

2 Mitre 433, Santo Tomé. Corrientes (3340), Argentina.

* Corresponding author. E-mail: mmonicadiaz@arnetbiz.com.ar

ABSTRACT: In Argentina Molossops neglectus was only known from Misiones Province through specimens collected at a
single locality. Here, we report a second locality from Argentina that includes the species in the province of Corrientes. In
addition, this locality extends the southern limit and represents the southernmost known locality for the distribution of the

species.

The distribution of Molossops neglectus Williams
and Genoways, 1980 was described by Eger (2008)
as tripartite: Guyanan (Venezuela, Surinam, Guyana
and Brazil), western (Peru and southern Colombia)
and southeastern (Argentina and Brazil). The species
was originally described from Suriname (Williams and
Genoways 1980), and since then just a few localities have
been cited showing that the species, even when rare with
respect to records and captures, has a wide distributional
range. The inclusion of this species in Misiones Province,
Argentina (Barquez 1987) was an unexpected extension
representing the second known record and being a great
distance from the type locality in Suriname. Barquez
(1987) indicated he had observed specimens deposited
at the United States National Museum (Washington) from
Pasco (Peru) and Para (Brazil) that belonged to this species.
All these records were later published, constituting the
known distribution for this species (Ascorra et al. 1991;
Gregorin et al. 2004; Bernardi et al. 2007; Eger 2008;
Gregorin and Loureiro 2011). Barquez (1987) also
observed morphological differences between specimens
from Suriname and Argentina, and indicated that argentine
specimens have larger forearms and shorter skulls (see
also Gregorin et al. 2004), which led him to suggest that
the Argentine specimens represented a new subspecies,
Molossops neglectus olrogi. This was not published, though
it was included in Barquez’s doctoral thesis. Additional
specimens are required in order to confirm the validity of
a new subspecies.

Twenty six years after the first citation of this species
for Argentina, a second locality has been encountered in
Corrientes Province and constitutes the southernmost
locality for the species. The specimen was captured at Santo
Tomé (28°32’30” S, 56°02’26” W), Corrientes Province, and
extended the southern limit of its geographical distribution
more than 280 km southward (Figure 1). The individual
was an adult female found by José Da Silva in his house near

Check List | Volume 7 | Issue 6 | 2011

the city of Santo Tomé on June 14, 2011, and photographed
(Figure 2); unfortunately the specimen was not preserved.
The characters of the individual are identical to those
from Misiones mentioned in Barquez et al. (1999), with
dark cinnamon brown coloration, ears and membranes
almost black, ears well separated and triangular, and the
free portion of the tail long (approximately 10 mm); the
forearm was 36 mm. This character combination is unique
and there is no doubt that this specimen corresponds to M.
neglectus.

PARAGUAY

ARGENTINA 3e

FIGURE 1. Southernmost known localities for the distribution of
Molossops neglectus: 1) Parque Nacional Iguazu (Misiones, Argentina)
25°41’04” S, 54°27'15” W; 2) Frederico Westphalen (Rio Grande do Sul,
Brazil) 27°21'33” S, 53°23’40” W; 3) Santo Tomé (Corrientes, Argentina)
28°32’30” S, 56°02’26” W.

This species was known from captures with mist nets
in natural areas but this specimen is the first collected in
a house in a town. The collection site was a plant sales
outlet surrounded by native vegetation and close to the
water, approximately 1 km West of the Uruguay River

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and 1 km South Arroyo Itacua. The area corresponds
to the Fields and Weedlands ecoregion in the sense of
Burkart et al. (1999), which adds a new ecoregion for the
distribution of the species, since the locality of Misiones
is in the Paranean Forest. The region around Santo Tomé
is strongly anthropized by the presence of rice fields,
cultivations of yerba mate, and forestry.

FIGURE 2. Frontal (a) and dorsal (b) view of the specimen of Molossops
neglectus from Santo Tomé, Corrientes, Argentina. Photo: José Da Silva.

Check List | Volume 7 | Issue 6 | 2011

Barquez et al. | First record of Molossops neglectus from Corrientes, Argentina

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: We thank José Da Silva for the photograph of M.
neglectus and Marcelo Nogueira, Michael Mares and one anonymous
reviewer for their comments and suggestions.

LITERATURE CITED

Ascorra, C.F, D.E. Wilson and C.O. Handley. 1991. Geographic distribution
of Molossops neglectus Williams and Genoways (Chiroptera:
Molossidae). Journal of Mammalogy 74: 828-830.

Barquez, R.M. 1987. Los murciélagos de Argentina. Unpublished thesis.
Tucuman: Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo,
Universidad Nacional de Tucuman. Argentina. 525 p.

Barquez, R.M., M.A. Mares and J.K. Braun. 1999. The Bats of Argentina.
Special Publications of the Museum of Texas Tech University 42: 1-275.

Bernardi, I.P., A. Pulchério-Leite, J.M.D. Miranda and EC. Passos. 2007.
Ampliagao da distribuig¢do de Molossops neglectus Williams &
Genoways (Chiroptera, Molossidae) para o Sul da América do Sul.
Revista Brasileira de Zoologia 24(2): 505-507.

Burkart, R., N. Barbaro, R. Sanchez and D. Gémez. 1999. Eco-regiones de
la Argentina. Buenos Aires: Parques Nacionales, Programa Desarrollo
Institucional Ambiental. 43 p.

Eger, J.L. 2008 [for 2007]. Family Molossidae; p. 399-438. In A.L. Gardner
(ed.). Mammals of South America. Volume 1: Marsupials, xenarthrans,
shrews, and bats. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Gregorin, R. and L.O. Loureiro. 2011. New records of bats for the state of
Minas Gerais, with range extension of Eptesicus chiriquinus Thomas
(Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) to southeastern Brazil. Mammalia 74:
291-294.

Gregorin, R., B.K. Lim, WA. Pedro, EC. Passos and V.A. Taddei. 2004.
Distributional extension of Molossops neglectus (Chiroptera,
Molossidae) into southeastern Brazil. Mammalia 68: 233-237.

Williams, S.L. and H.H. Genoways. 1980. Results of the Alcoa Foundation-
Suriname Expeditions. IV. A new species of bat of the genus Molossops
(Mammalia: Molossidae). Annals of Carnegie Museum 49: 487-498.

RECEIVED: August 2011
LAST REVISED: September 2011

ACCEPTED: September 2011

PUBLISHED ONLINE: December 2011
EDITORIAL RESPONSIBILITY: Marcelo R. Nogueira

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