NO. 5 MAMMALS OF PANAMA — GOLDMAN 20/ 



ARTIBEUS PLANIROSTRIS PLANIROSTRIS (Spix) 



Flat-nosed Bat 



Phyllostoma planirostre Spix, Simiar. et Vespert. Brasil, 1823, p. 66, pi. 36, 

 fig. I. Type from Bahia, Brazil. 



The flat-nosed bat very closely resembles Artibeus j. jamaicensis. 

 The two species are sometimes difficult to distinguish apart by any 

 external character, but A. p. planirostris differs, normally, in the 

 possession of a third upper molar, a tiny tooth appearing at the 

 posterior end of the series. But in some skulls even this differential 

 character partially fails as these small teeth may be lost on one or 

 both sides. In such cases, however, the alveolus of the missing tooth 

 persists at least for a time. 



A. planirostris appears to be a rare bat in Panama, while A. j. 

 jamaicensis is one of the common species of the region. No speci- 

 mens of the former were met with by me, but specimens from 

 Bugaba and Boquete erroneously listed by Bangs (1902, p. 50) as 

 A. intermedins were of this species as has been indicated by G. M. 

 Allen (1908, p. 39). A bat collected by J. H. Batty at Boqueron. 

 Chiriqui, and recorded by J. A. Allen (1904, p. 79) as A. intermedins 

 proved on reexamination by him (1904, p. 233) to be an example of 

 A. planirostris with the third molar on each side absent. Dr. Allen's 

 later determination is evidently correct. 



Specimens examined: Boqueron,^ Boquete, i," Bugaba, i.* 



Family DESMODONTIDAE 



The family Desmodontidae includes the true vampire bats which 

 subsist upon the blood of animals, probably to the exclusion of other 

 food. Contrary to a popular conception they are not especially 

 repugnant in appearance and are surpassed in size by many harmless 

 species. The ears are short ; the nose is bordered by cutaneous folds 

 with a V-shaped notch in the middle above the nostrils. There is no 

 external tail, and the interfemoral membrane is reduced to a narrow 

 fringe. The general pelage is short and somewhat hispid, rusty 

 brownish in color, rather coarse hairs extending the full length of 

 the forearm and well down over the interfemoral membrane and hind 

 limbs. The highly specialized dentition is distinctive, the median 

 upper incisors consisting of greatly developed, trenchant, chisel-like 

 teeth which exceed the canines in size and are largely instrumental 

 in making the incision when blood is drawn. These bats often attack 



^ Collection Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 

 ' Collection Mus. Comp. Zool. 



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