A morphometric analysis of Carollia (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae). American Museum novitates ; no. 2791

Abstract

"The species of bats in the genus Carollia present a complex pattern of morphological variation which complicates identification of species. I examined sexual and geographic variation in cranial and mandibular measurements of 475 specimens of Carollia selected to represent the geographic range of each species in the genus: brevicauda, castanea, perspicillata, and subrufa. All species were easily separated by canonical variates analysis, with C. castanea being the most distinctive. Sexual dimorphism is present in all species and males consistently are larger than females. Significant differences are present among populations in all species. Carollia subrufa and C. brevicauda have morphologically distinct populations in the northern and southern portions of their range, whereas different populations of C. castanea sampled show no clear geographic pattern. Character values from samples of C. perspicillata form a continuum with non-overlapping values from the northernmost and southernmost portions of their geographic range"--P. [1].