Title
Systematics of Vampyressa melissa Thomas, 1926 (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae), with descriptions of two new species of Vampyressa
Related Titles
Series:
American Museum novitates, no. 3813
By
Tavares, Valeria da C.
Gardner, Alfred L.
Ramírez-Chaves, Héctor E.
Velazco, Paúl M.
Type
Book
Material
Published material
Publication info
New York, NY, American Museum of Natural History, [2014]
Notes
Caption title.
"October 2, 2014."
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Vampyressa melissa is a poorly known phyllostomid bat listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Since its description in 1926, fewer than 40 V. melissa have been reported in the literature, and less than half of these may have been correctly identified. During revisionary studies of Vampyressa, we uncovered two previously unrecognized species related to V. melissa, all associated with higher elevation habitats (>1400 m), one from the Andes of Colombia (Vampyressa sinchi, new species) and the other from western Panama (Vampyressa elisabethae, new species) revealing that V. melissa, as traditionally defined, is a composite of at least three species. In this paper, we provide a restricted diagnosis for the genus Vampyressa, an emended diagnosis of V. melissa, and descriptions of the two new species. The separation of these frugivorous bats, previously identified as V. melissa, into three isolated upper-elevation species, each having restricted distributions further highlights their fragile conservation status.
Subjects
Andes
,
Andes Region
,
Bats
,
Classification
,
Colombia
,
Latin America
,
Mammals
,
Mountain animals
,
Panama
,
Rare mammals
,
Vampyressa
,
Vampyressa elisabethae
,
Vampyressa melissa
,
Vampyressa sinchi
Call Number
QL1 .A436 no.3813 2014
Language
English
Identifiers
OCLC:
891807815
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