Common vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) are a key rabies vector in South America. Improved management of this species requires long-term, region-specific information. To investigate patterns of demography and dispersal, we analysed 13 642 captures of common vampire bats in Northern Argentina from the period 1969–2004. In contrast with findings from more tropical regions, we found reproductive seasonality with peak pregnancy in September and peak lactation in February. Curiously, sex ratios were consistently male-biased both in maternity roosts and at foraging sites. Males comprised 57% of 9509 adults caught at night, 57% of 1078 juveniles caught at night, 57% of 603 juveniles caught in roosts during the day, and 55% of 103 newborns and mature fetuses. Most observed roosts were in man-made structures. Movements of 1.5–54 km were most frequent in adult males, followed by young males, adult females and young females. At night, males visited maternity roosts, and non-pregnant, non-lactating females visited bachelor roosts. Males fed earlier in the night. Finally, we report new longevity records for free-ranging vampire bats: 16 and 17 years of age for a female and male, respectively. Our results are consistent with model predictions that sex-biased movements might play a key role in rabies transmission between vampire bat populations.

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In this study, 91 strains isolated in the River Plate Basin, South America, were examined from the epidemiological standpoint and with monoclonal antibodes (MAbs) to the nucleocapsid of rabies virus. Such strains reacted to MAbs in accordance with nine different patterns (antigenic variants). Rabies virus was isolated from 49 cattle, 21 dogs, 11 non-haematophagous bats, four vampire bats, two foxes, two horses, one buffalo, and one human. Five of the variants had not been described previously. It was also found that two cases of rabies in wild foxes (Ctrdoyon thous) which had attacked persons in the Province of Chaco, Argentina, had been caused by variants from dog and vampire bat, while two cases in frugivorous bats (4rtibeus lituratus) from Argentina and Brazil, had been infected by vampire bat variants. In addition, symptoms shown by cattlc infected with strains which reacted as originating in canine vectors, differed from those observed in bovines from which the variants isolated corresponded to vampire bats.