1 12 Gary S. Morgan 



present, and a Holocene site (Vero) in which the climatic conditions 

 were essentially similar to those at present? It would seem more likely 

 that Eumops would have been found in one of the Sangamonian inter- 

 glacial sites (Reddick, Haile, Arredondo, etc.), at a time during which 

 climates were probably somewhat more tropical than they presently are. 

 As noted by Eger (1977) and Koopman (1971), the endemic Florida 

 subspecies, Eumops glaucinus floridanus, is the most distinct form of 

 the species. The Florida animal is characterized by its larger size, a fea- 

 ture also seen in the fossil representative of the species from Florida (see 

 measurements in Table 3). According to Eger (1977), all Neotropical 

 representatives of E. glaucinus, including those from the West Indies, 

 are referable to the nominal subspecies, while only the Florida popula- 

 tion is recognizable as a distinct subspecies. Baker and Genoways (1978) 

 suggested the possibility that E. glaucinus invaded Florida from Cuba, a 

 distance of only 200 km. However, the strong mainland Neotropical 

 component of Florida's Pleistocene fauna, and the total lack of any 

 other West Indian bats in the state, suggest strongly that the present 

 distribution of E. glaucinus resulted from a warmer interglacial period 

 when the Neotropical fauna was continuous around the Gulf Coast. 

 Two other bats found in Florida during the late Pleistocene, Desmodus 

 stocki and Mormoops megalophylla, also reflect this mainland Neotrop- 

 ical influence. 



DISCUSSION 



The fossil bat fauna from Vero is significant for several reasons. 

 First, more species of bats (six) are represented at Vero than in any 

 other fossil vertebrate fauna yet described from Florida. The two most 

 diverse fossil chiropteran faunas from Florida listed by Webb (1974:14) 

 were Reddick 1 A, Marion County, with five species — Desmodus stocki, 

 Myotis austroriparius, Lasiurus borealis, L. intermedius, and Tadarida 

 brasiliensis — and Devil's Den, Levy County, with four species — M. aus- 

 troriparius, M. grisescens, Pipistrellus subflavus, and L. intermedius. 

 Second, among the ten or so Pleistocene and Holocene vertebrate fau- 

 nas in Florida that contain abundant bat fossils, only the Vero deposit 

 represents a depositional environment other than a cave, fissure, or 

 sinkhole. The fossil deposits at Reddick consist of unconsolidated sedi- 

 ments filling caverns and solution pipes in the surrounding Eocene 

 limestones. A cave-dwelling species, Myotis austroriparius, accounts for 

 the great majority of bat remains at Reddick. The Devil's Den site is a 

 water-filled sinkhole and cave system, presumably inhabited by the bats 

 during a period of lower sea level and water tables in the late Wisconsi- 

 nan and early Holocene. Cavernicolous bats also predominate at Devil's 

 Den. In fact, all of the major North American Pleistocene sites listed by 

 Kurten and Anderson (1980) that contain large bat faunas were depos- 

 ited in caves and are dominated by cave-inhabiting species. 



