27 



In contrast a female collected in July was pregnant. In September, a family, watched in 

 field by the same author, nursed a nearly full grown juvenile which still stayed with its 

 parents during followmg January. At Manaus, Reis (1981) found sexual active males 

 during dry season and at the beginning of the ramy season. 



Plaralina: No data on reproductive biology yet available for this very rare endemic 

 Peruvian genus. 



Brachyphylla: Twelve female B. nana trapped on Middle Caicos Island in March all were 

 pregnant, with crown nmip lengtli of fetuses between 24 and 34 mm (Buden, 1977). In 

 contrast females collected on Hispaniola in December and late August were not pregnant, 

 but one of the August females was lactating. The testes of one male netted during the 

 same time were only 3 mm long (Klingener et al. 1978). On Cuba, female B. nana carried 

 embryos from December through May, lactation ocurred from May to August; the 

 diameter of the testes of males varied from 5 to 9 mm in specimens caught in December 

 (Süva-Taboada 1979). 



On Puerto Rico, nursing females of B. cavernariim have been collected on 5th July, but 

 there was no information about the young (Anthony 1918). Later smdies on 25 females 

 (smaU uteri, no suspicious ovarian follicles) and males (testes 4-6 nmi ) from St. Croix 

 gave no evidence for reproductive activities in December (Bond & Seaman 1958). Walker 

 et al. (1964) mentioned nurshig females from Puerto Rico m July; later reports of the 

 same authors (1975) stated pregnant females in February and a lactatmg female in April. 

 On St. Croix, pregnant females were observed m March, and it was here that Nehis (1971) 

 collected a nursing female in April. Detailed observations by Nellis & Ehle (1977) on a 

 colony on St. Croix in the time between May and Jime showed the colony consisting of 

 pregnant females only, which give birth to their yoimg during that time. 

 Baker et al. (1978) collected 15 adult females on Guadeloupe in July; none of them was 

 pregnant but tliree were obviously nursing. Males netted at the same time showed testes 

 of 4-6 mm length. Thus B. cavemariim probably has a more synchronized reproductive 

 cycle than, for instance, Artibeiis. Also Wilson (1979) suggested a synchronized, probably 

 bimodale reproductive cycle for B. cavernariim, a second period of parmrition occuring 

 annually at least in some populations. 



ErophyJJa: Eleven (of approxmiately twenty) female E. sezekorni taken in Cuba on 26th 

 and 28th February contamed small embryos (Anthony 1919). Buden (1976) smimiarized 

 the reproductive behavior of this species: "Most prenatal development takes place during 

 the first part of the year and parturition probably occurs in early simimer." Females 

 bearing young embryos were collected in early and late February. Individuals with well 

 developed feuises were obtamed in April and May. Lactating females were collected in 

 June and many inmiamres in July. Nearly adult youngsters were found in August. Thus E. 

 sezekorni seems to be a seasonal breeder possibly bearing only one smgle offspring per 

 year. 



Pregnant E. bombifrons were captured on Puerto Rico by Valdivieso & Tamsitt (1971) in 

 June and July. 



Phyllonycteris: Parturition in P. poeyi takes place mainly in June (Novak & Paradiso 

 1983). Goodwin (1970) trapped a pregnant female in January; Baker et al. (1978) reported 

 three gravid specimens from Haiti on 17th December. 



Glossophaga: Nursing colonies contammg several hundreds of female G. soricina and 

 then young were foimd in San Luis Potosi (Mexico) during midsummer; in Guerrero (also 



