Belize Biodiversity Information System NAME - Vampire bat FAMILY - Phyllostomidae SCIENTIFIC NAME - Desmodus rotundus SYNONYMS - Desmodus rotundus murinus- Wagner REFERENCES - 1, 2 and 3 National abundance, Conservation or Economic Status Reference Uncommon: occur at low density in proper habitat. 7 Common: high density, likely to be seen in many places 4 District Reference Belize 2 Cayo 2 Corozal 2 Orange Walk 2 Stann Creek 2 Toledo 2 Administrative Unit Occurrence Temporal Reference Town or Village, see comments. Collected as voucher July 12 Slate Creek Preserve 9 Caracol Archaeological Reserve Captured or Mist net Dry season 8 Shipstern Nature Reserve Permanent 7 Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary 5 Gallon Jug Captured or Mist net Dry season 10 Private land, see comments Captured or Mist net Dry season 11 Private land, see comments Collected as voucher August 13 Private land, see comments Collected as voucher August 13 Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve Collected as voucher February 14 Government land Collected as voucher February 14 Private land, see comments Collected as voucher October 14 Private land, see comments Collected as voucher January 14 Private land, see comments Collected as voucher May 14 Altun Ha Archaeological Reserve Collected as voucher Dry season 14 Rio Bravo Conservation Area Captured or Mist net Dry season 15 Hydrologic Association Reference Macal River 11 Mussel Creek 6 New River 15 1:50,000 Quadrangle Reference 16 00' to 16 15'; 89 00' to 89 15' 12 17 00' to 17 15'; 88 45' to 89 00' 9 16 45' to 17 00'; 89 00' to 89 15' 8 18 15' to 18 30'; 88 00' to 88 15' 7 16 45' to 17 00'; 88 15' to 88 30' 5 17 30' to 17 45'; 89 00' to 89 15' 10 17 00' to 17 15'; 89 00' to 89 15' 11 18 15' to 18 30'; 88 15' to 88 30' 13 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 00' to 88 10' 13 16 45' to 17 00'; 88 45' to 89 00' 14 17 00' to 17 15'; 89 00' to 89 15' 14 17 00' to 17 15'; 88 45' to 89 00' 14 17 00' to 17 15'; 89 00' to 89 15' 14 17 00' to 17 15'; 89 00' to 89 15' 14 17 45' to 18 00'; 88 15' to 88 30' 14 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 15 Holdridge Life Zone Reference Subtropical moist 14 Subtropical moist 14 Subtropical moist 14 Subtropical moist 14 Subtropical Lower Montane moist 14 Tropical moist-transition to Subtropical 13 Subtropical moist 13 General Distribution Comments 15* Hillbank. 14* Rockstone Pond; Succotz; Spanish Lookout; Morning Star Farm, between Central Farm and Georgeville; Central Farm; Augustine. 13* 1 mi. South Belize City; 0.75mi. E. of Corozal. 12* U. of Kansas MNH. 1 specimen, 18 July, 1980 Unruh collection. 11* Chaa Creek Cottages References 1 McCarthy, T. J. 1993. Checklist: Mammals of Belize. BAS Newsletter 25 (2-3). 2 Hall, E. R. 1981. Mammals of North America. Second ed. John Wiley & Sons. New York. 1:174 3 Koopman, Karl F. 1993. Chiroptera. in Wilson, D. E., and D. M. Reeder, eds, Mammalian species of the world, 2nd ed, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C., pp. 137-241. 4 Emmons, L. H. 1990. Neotropical Rainforest Mammals, a field guide. University of Chicago Press. Chicago and London. pp.79-80 5 Rabinowitz, A.; B. G. Nottingham, Jr. 1989. Mammal species richness and relative abundance of small mammals in a subtropical wet forest of Central America. Mammalia V. 53, No. 2, pp.217-226 6 Weyer, D. 1994. Proposal to Establish the Mussel Creek Drainage as a Wildlife Sanctuary. p.18 7 Meerman, J. C. 1993. Mammals of the Shipstern Nature Reserve. Occasional Papers of the Belize Natural History Society. 2:11, pp.83-85 8 Howell, D. 1990. The Bats of Caracol. Parts I and II. 22 pp. Unpub. report for Wildlife Conservation Society. 9 Meerman, J. C. 1994. Unpublished data, Slate Creek Preserve. 10 Miller, C.M., B.W. Miller. 1994 (Nov.). Working Checklist: Mammals of Gallon Jug and Chan Chich Lodge Area. Unpublished list. 11 Merriman, T. 1993. List of bats caught and observed with Dr. Merlin D. Tuttle, BCI Founder's Circle Trip, May 8-17, 1993. In lit. 12 University of Kansas Natural History Museum. 1995. Belize Mammal holdings. Unpublished listing of catalog. 13 LSU Museum of Natural Science, Belize collection. August 31, 1995. Curator: Mark S. Hafner. 14 ROM. 1995. Collections data from mammal department, Royal Ontario Museum. 15 Smith, Rosemary L. 1994. Neotropical Bats as Indicators of Environmental Disturbance. Masters Thesis. Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology. pp.64. 16 Koopman, Karl F. 1994. Chiroptera: Systematics (in) Handbook of Zoology. W. de Gruyter. Berlin-NY. p.46.
Wildlife Conservation Society
Ministry of Natural Resources' Land Information Centre
01/19/98