Abstract

MORA, José Manuel; ESPINAL, Mario R; RUEDAS, Luis A  and  LOPEZ, Lucía I. The big free-tailed bat, Nyctinomops macrotis (gray, 1839), in Central America . Mastozool. neotrop. [online]. 2016, vol.23, n.2, pp.551-556. ISSN 0327-9383.

The big free-tailed bat, Nyctinomops macrotis, is a large molossid with a discontinuous distribution in the southwestern United States and most of Mexico (northern range), and northern South America (southern range). In addition, the species has been documented in the Caribbean in Cuba (type locality), Hispaniola, and Jamaica. A large gap in the species distribution existed from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (Mexico) southward to southeast of the Darién Gap, between Panama and Colombia, an overland distance of some 2500 km. Here, we report the first records of the species for Central America, based on two recently collected specimens from the southern highlands of Honduras.

Keywords : Chiroptera; Distribution; Honduras; Molossidae.