Museum, University of Nebraska State
Date of this Version
3-13-2018
Citation
Occasional Papers, Museum of Texas Tech University, 353: 1-24.
Abstract
The bat fauna of the Caribbean island of Sint Eustatius consists of five documented species—Monophyllus plethodon, Brachyphylla cavernarum, Artibeus jamaicensis, Ardops nichollsi, and Molossus molossus—and one provisional species—Tadarida brasiliensis. The Insular Single-leaf Bat, M. plethodon, is reported in the scientific literature for the first time from Sint Eustatius based on material presented herein. The bat fauna of the island is considered to be unbalanced because only three species, which are the environmental generalists, are abundant, whereas the more specialized species are rare or absent from the fauna. It is our hypothesis that the unbalanced bat fauna on St. Eustatius is the result of chronic environmental degradation and destruction due primarily to human activity.
Included in
Biodiversity Commons, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons, Other Animal Sciences Commons, Zoology Commons
Comments
Copyright 2018, Museum of Texas Tech University. Used by permission.