Pleistocene Bats from Cave Deposits in Bahia, Brazil

Abstract

Twenty-seven taxa of bats from late Pleistocene fossils originated from five caves in Bahia, Brazil. In one cave, humeri of Mormoops megalophylla were dated radiometrically to 20,060 ± 290 years ago. In another cave, a cranium of Desmodus rotundus was found adhering to the underside of a coprolite of a sloth (Nothrotherium) that had a radiometric age of 12,200 ± 120 radiocarbon years ago. Among taxa represented by the fossils were one extinct species (Desmodus draculae), the first South American fossil records for Mimon bennettii, Furipterus horrens, and Tadarida brasiliensis, and the first Brazilian fossil records for M. megalophylla, Phyllostomus discolor, Diphylla ecaudata, and Nyctinomops macrotis. All caves but one occur within the semiarid Caatinga biome today. However, fossil occurrences of several species (M. megalophylla, M. bennettii, and Eptesicus fuscus), which today select moister habitats or humid caves, suggest that conditions in the area during part of the late Pleistocene were wetter than at present.