80 



Mandible (fig.58) 



Wliereas Cawllia and Phyllostomus, but also Brachyphylla have strong mandibles, 

 increasing specialization brings about a flattening of the Ramus mandibularis, the 

 Processus coronoideus becomes relatively smaller with increasing length of the mandible. 

 Hie liiglily specialized nectar bats show a characteristic ridge (symphysal ridge) at the 

 mandibular symphysis, giving the lower jaw a "bulb bow profile" in lateral view - 

 probably due to reduction of the lower incisivi and the development of a V-shaped 

 notching of the mandibular tip and of the median lower lip forming a tongue guiding 

 channel. None of the basic genera shows a comparable feature. It obviously may serve to 

 stabilize the fused mandibular tip as the notchmg between the lower canini has increased 

 to an extent that afflicts the mandibular suture. According to Freeman (1995) all nectari- 

 vorous bats have fused mandibulae, which probably increases stability of the jaws but also 

 could result from less need for minute adjustments at the symphysis in order to precise 

 registration of cheek teeth. 



Phyllonycterinae 



Erophylla 



Brochyphyllinae 



Brachyphylla ^ 



Phyllostominae 



Phyllostomus 



Cardliinae 



Carollia 



Giossophoginae ^^^T^ ? 



Anoura 



? ^ '■ ^ Hylonycteris <^=i 



/O Choeroniscus ■ 



t-^ ^-'"fe^^^*^^^^^^ Monophyllus 



iL-— ^ <> fc:::^ 



Choeronycteris 



n a Glossophaga 



Musonycteris Sderonycteris O ^ 



Lichonycleris 



Lonchophyllinae ^(k«3c===,,>^^ 



robusta ^Id-s^iicxcoiV . ^ — -j ' ' 



Platalina ^ . '^Z-> Lionycteris 



Lonchophylla ^^^^^^ 



Fig.58: Mandibles of the phyllostomid families examined in lateral view. Specialization on nectar 

 feeding increases from right to left. For clarifying the constraction principles, the jaws were drawn in 

 the same size, ingnoring the scale. The anows indicate evolutionary trends of mandible constraction 

 as derivations of common features 



Craniometry 



Univariate Analysis 



Hie results of univariate analysis of the skull measures are given in tab.4a, b (p. 64-66) 

 for all taxa examined. Only for individual species the mean has been worked out. 

 Tliese data reveal, however, that their range may overlap between individual species of a 

 genus, even if the mean values significantly differ from each other. 

 Only those taxa comprising sufficient numbers of specimen were processed statistically, 

 the rare species allow iiotliing than mdividual records. 



