150 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 75 



has experienced severe reduction in numbers and range since colonization of the 

 Neotropics by European man. 



Species of Possible or Probable Occurrence 

 in the Area 



Diclidurus alhus 

 Ghost Bat 



Ghost bats are found from Nayarit, Mexico, to eastern Brazil. The subspecies 

 Diclidurus albus virgo is found in Costa Rica. Although some authors consider 

 D. virgo (type locality, Escazu, Costa Rica) a species distinct from D. albus, we 

 follow Honacki et al. (1982) in regarding the Central American populations as a 

 subspecies of the widely distributed D. albus. 



Relatively little published information is available on the natural history of 

 ghost bats. Most of the few specimens of D. albus in collections have been shot 

 in flight or from roosting sites under palm leaves (Sanchez and Chavez 1984). In 

 Venezuela, Handley (1976) found them in a variety of habitats. This species is 

 insectivorous. The reproductive cycle seems to be monestrous, and breeding aggre- 

 gations suggesting harems have been reported (Sanchez and Chavez 1984). Although 

 there are no specimens of ghost bats from the La Selva area, we suspect that it 

 occurs there. 



Underwood collected the first Costa Rican specimen at Escazu in 1897 (Good- 

 win 1946). The biology of ghost bats was reviewed by Ceballos and MedeUin (1988). 



Aotus lemurinus 

 Night Monkey, Mono Nocturno 



Night monkeys of the genus Aotus are widespread in the lowlands of South 

 America and previously were known as far north as Isla Bastimentos, Bocas del 

 Toro Province, Panama. A historical record of an Aotus collected in Costa Rica 

 in the early 1870's has long been discounted, as has one from Bluefields, Nicaragua. 

 However, in a recent review of this literature, Timm (1989) suggested that the 

 Costa Rican specimen might be a valid record. Previous authors have attributed 

 this specimen to a locality variously spelled Quindin, Quindin, or Quindiu. This 

 locality (actually in Colombia) was erroneously applied to the specimen by Elliott 

 some 45 years after the specimen was collected. Several recent observations between 

 1975 and 1986 suggest that A. lemurinus may be present in the Caribbean lowlands 

 of Costa Rica (Timm 1989). Night monkeys apparently have been sighted on three 

 occasions at the La Selva Biological Reserve, and hunters have reported night 

 monkeys near that area and also near Bribri, Limon Province, near the Panama- 

 nian border. Although the presence of night monkeys in Costa Rica still needs to 

 be confirmed, the species should be sought in appropriate habitats throughout the 

 Caribbean lowlands. 



