Thomas's fruit-eating bat

Thomas's fruit-eating bat (Dermanura watsoni), sometimes also popularly called Watson's fruit-eating bat,[2] is a species of bat in the family Phyllostomidae.[3] It is found in southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia. Its South American range is to the west of the Andes.[1] The species name is in honor of H. J. Watson, a plantation owner in western Panama who used to send specimens to the British Natural History Museum, where Oldfield Thomas would often describe them.[2][4]

Thomas's fruit-eating bat
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Chiroptera
Family: Phyllostomidae
Genus: Dermanura
Species:
D. watsoni
Binomial name
Dermanura watsoni
(Thomas, 1901)

Taxonomy

This species was formerly placed in the genus Artibeus, but was reclassified, based on mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequence data, in 2004. Dermanura, formerly a subgenus of Artibeus, was elevated to a separate genus. The two genera cannot be differentiated by morphology.[1][5]

Population on Isla Escudo de Veraguas

The population on the small (3.4 km2) island Isla Escudo de Veraguas off the Caribbean coast of Panama was classified as a separate species within the genus (D. incomitata, the solitary fruit-eating bat) in 1994.[6][7] It had been evaluated as critically endangered by the IUCN, being threatened by habitat loss in addition to the tiny size of its range,[8] as well as a species in danger of imminent extinction by the Alliance for Zero Extinction.[9] It was transferred to D. watsoni in 2009, based on cytochrome b data that showed it nested within watsoni.[10] The IUCN has followed this recommendation.[1] Solari et al. (2009) described it as the subspecies D. w. incomitata. They stated that "The paraphyly and specific status of watsoni/incomitata is not easily resolved" and suggested that nuclear DNA sequence comparisons would be useful.[10] The only morphological distinction between the island and mainland populations noted was differences in the cusps of the lower molars, while the DNA sequence divergence of 3.6% is less than typical for sister species in the genus.[10]

References
  1. Solari, S. (2016). "Dermanura watsoni". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T99586593A21997358. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  2. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2009-09-28). The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 440. ISBN 978-0-8018-9304-9. OCLC 270129903.
  3. Simmons, N.B. (2005). "Artibeus watsoni". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 420. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  4. Goldman, Edward Alphonso (1920). Mammals of Panama. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. pp. (see p. 16).
  5. Lim, B. K.; Engstrom, M. D.; Lee, T. E.; Patton, J. C.; Bickham, J. W. (2004). "Molecular Differentiation of Large Species of Fruit-Eating Bats (Artibeus) and Phylogenetic Relationships Based on the Cytochrome b Gene". Acta Chiropterologica. 6 (1): 1–12. doi:10.3161/001.006.0101. S2CID 86707279.
  6. Kalko, E.K.V.; Handley, C.O., Jr. (1994). "Evolution, biogeography, and description of a new species of fruit-eating bat, genus Artibeus Leach (1821), from Panama". Zeitschrift für Saeugetierkunde. 59: 257–273. Retrieved 2018-05-20.
  7. Simmons, N.B. (2005). "Artibeus incomitatus". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 418. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  8. Pino, J.; Samudio, R. (2012). "Artibeus incomitatus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-11-14. Retrieved 17 May 2018.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  9. "A Five-Year Plan for Global Bat Conservation" (PDF). batcon.org. Bat Conservation International. October 2013. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
  10. Solari, S.; Hoofer, S. R.; Larsen, P. A.; Brown, A. D.; Bull, R. J.; Guerrero, J. A.; Ortega, J.; Carrera, J. P.; Bradley, R. D.; Baker, R. J. (2009). "Operational Criteria for Genetically Defined Species: Analysis of the Diversification of the Small Fruit-Eating Bats, Dermanura (Phyllostomidae: Stenodermatinae)". Acta Chiropterologica. 11 (2): 279–288. doi:10.3161/150811009X485521. S2CID 15355333.
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