Research Training Program

Hector Angarita
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogota-Colombia
Santafé de Bogotá D.C., Columbia

Alfred Gardner, Ph.D.
Supervising Scientist
USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center

"The Research Training Program provided a new perspective for my present and future work. It gives me the opportunity to learn and become involved in many different areas of the natural sciences including new approaches about my personal interest group, the bats of the Neotropics"

White-lined bats of the genus Platyrrhinus are members of the New World family Phyllostomidae and occur from southern Mexico to Northern Bolivia and Argentina. In Colombia, this genus is reported to occur from lower elevations up to 3000 m. above sea level. Platyrrhinus bats are one of the most important agents in the regeneration and sustainability of tropical forest because they disperse seeds from a wide array of plants, including seeds of economically important trees. Nevertheless, There is considerable disagreement concerning the taxonomy of some species of the genus and a lack of understanding about the characters that can be used to distinguish species. This research focused on the study of all specimens of Platyrrhinus species known from Colombia in the collections of the National Museum of Natural History (USNM), using cranial and dental characteristics to differentiate the species. The results of this research suggest variation between males and females for some of the cranial and body measurements in six of the seven species, and support recognizing P. umbratus and P. dorsalis as separate species. Also, the previous record of P. auriarus for the country is corrected, these individuals were determined to be P. dorsalis.