Records of chromatic disorder in Molossus molossus and Sturnira bakeri (Chiroptera) from western Ecuador

Abstract

Herein we report cases of leucism in Molossus molossus and Sturnira bakeri from three locations of lowlands of western Ecuador, which include three gravid females, five juvenile, four subadult, and six adults. The M. molossus specimens showed white spots on several parts in the soft part of body (ears, tragus, propatagium, uropatagium), and fur (throat, abdomen), while individual of S. bakeri presented a whitish-yellowish patch on its dorsal region, very contrast in yellow-shoulder bats. Although South America has a significant information gap about chromatic disorders in bats, been necessary to continue reporting cases of chromatic disorders to try to determine their causes.

Registro de desorden cromático en Trachops cirrhosus (Spix, 1823) (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) en la Amazonia del Ecuador

“…This hypothesis is supported by the specimens of Trachops cirrhosis reported in this study was a subadult individual. The morphometric measurements of our specimen are within the ranges reported for T. cirrhosus (Tirira 2017), so apparently the external morphology is not affected for these chromatic disorders (Hernández-Aguilar & Santos-Moreno 2018, Salas et al 2021).…”

“…Previous records of hypopigmentary disorder in Ecuador have been reported in other phyllostomids such as Artibeus fraterculus, Carollia perspicillata, and Sturnira bakeri, from the provinces of Esmeraldas, Guayas and Los Ríos, in the western region of Ecuador (Boada & Tirira 2010, Fernández et al 2017, Salas et al 2021. Other phyllostomids as Artibeus obscurus, Uroderma bilobatum and Vampyressa thyone have been recorded with this condition from in the Ecuadorian Amazon region (Flores 2021), also a record of albinism of a collected individual of Vampyrum spectrum from Pastaza province, in amazon subtropics (Brito & León 2014).…”

“…Reports of hypopigmentary disorders in bats have been increasing for more than 20 years in the Neotropics (Uieda 2000, Lucati & López-Baucells 2016, Zalapa et al 2016, more frequently in the last decade (Souza et al 2013, Rocha et al 2013, Tello et al 2014, Romano et al 2015, Ruelas et al 2016, Zalapa et al 2016, Mejía-Quintanilla et al 2017, Biassi et al 2017, Nascimento et al 2018, Hernández-Aguilar & Santos-Moreno 2018, Zortéa & Silva 2018, Hernández-Canchola et al 2019, Borloti et al 2019, Aguilar-López et al 2021, Salas et al 2021, Aguilar-López et al 2021, Genelhú et al 2022, Santos-Moreno & Hernández-Aguilar 2022, Pereira et al 2022. Nevertheless, South American region presents an important bias in terms of reports of color disorders in bats, especially in the Amazon basin (Lucati & López-Baucells 2016).…”

“…In Ecuador, hypopigmentary disorders in bats have been recorded in nine species of the families Phyllostomidae, Molossidae, and Noctilionidae from the western coastal provinces of Esmeraldas, Guayas, Los Ríos (Boada & Tirira 2010, Fernández et al 2017, Salas et al 2021 and in the eastern or Amazon region, in the provinces of Orellana and Pastaza (Brito & León 2014, Flores 2021. In this note, we report a new case of hypopigmentation disorder in an individual of Trachops cirrhosus caught in an intervened habitat located northeast of Ecuador in the Amazon region.…”

First record of leucism in the volcano rabbit (Romerolagus diazi), endemic to México

“…Reports of mammalian leucism include the puma (Cronemberger et al 2018), tapir (Tirira andArbelaez 2020), coati (Silva-Caballero et al 2014) Salas et al 2021), bear (Ritland et al 2001, sea lion (Acevedo and Aguayo 2008), shrew (Chetnicki et al 2007;Guevara et al 2011), wild boar (Samson et al 2021), and field mice (Brito and Valdivieso-Bermeo 2016). This note documents the first report of a leucistic individual of Romerolagus diazi (Ferrari Pérez in Diaz, 1893), commonly known as zacatuche or volcano rabbit, which is endemic to México, has a restricted distribution, and is listed as an endangered species (Velázquez and Guerrero 2019).…”