l88 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL.. 69 



VAMPYRUS SPECTRUM NELSONI Goldman 



Nelson's False Vampire Bat 



Vampyrus spectrum nelsoni Goldman, Proc Biol. Soc. Washington, Vol. 30, 

 p. 115, May 23, 1917. Type from Coatzacoalcos, Vera Cruz, Mexico. 



Nelson's false vampire, the largest North American bat, differs 

 from the typical form of South America in somewhat smaller size 

 and cranial details, especially the reduction of the hypocone of the 

 posterior upper premolar. It is reddish-brown in color. 



The general range of the species is from the Amazonian region 

 northward through Middle America to southern Mexico. In Middle 

 America it seems to be much less abundant than farther south, or at 



>o 



Fig. io. — Vampyrus spectrum nelsoni. 

 No. 78127, U. S. Nat. Mus. About nat. size. 



least few examples from that region have found their way into 

 museum collections. A very large bat that I saw one evening in 

 rather slow butterfly-like flight along the bank of the Chagres at 

 Alhajuela I took to be of this species, but throughout the period 

 covered by my work in Panama I was unsuccessful in securing 

 specimens. Alston (1879, p. 39) notes the species collected in 

 Panama by McLeannan, probably at some point along the line of the 

 Panama railroad. More recently (Allen, 1904, p. 78) has recorded 

 a pair taken by J. H. Batty at Boqueron in western Panama. 



This bat, now known to be harmless, was formerly believed to be 

 a bloodsucker, and the unfortunate name attached to it, together 

 with its large size and repugnant general appearance, have doubtless 

 fostered this misconception of its real character. The true vam- 

 pires belong to the genera Desmodus, Diphylla and Diaemus which 

 constitute a separate family, the Desmodontidcc. The false vampire 



