Short Notes 557 Tent building by female Ectophylla alba (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) in Costa Rica BERNAL RODRÍGUEZ-HERRERA1, 2, RODRIGO A. MEDELLÍN1, and MELQUISEDEC GAMBA-RÍOS2 1Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, A.P. 70-275, México D.F. 04510, Mexico 2Programa de Conservación de Murciélagos de Costa Rica; E-mail:
[email protected] Key words: Costa Rica, Ectophylla alba, leaf modification, roost site selection, Phyllostomidae, tent-roosting, tent-building INTRODUCTION tent-roosting species. Using telemetry, Cha- verri and Kunz (2006) observed that a male Twenty-one species of bats around the Artibeus watsoni remained motionless at world have been recorded using modi- a site for 30 min; the following day they fied leaves as roosts, usually called ‘tents’ found the bat in a new tent where it had (Timm, 1987; Kunz and Lumsden, 2003; stayed throughout the previous night. Rodríguez-Herrera and Tschapka, 2005). Hence, it remains an open question which Most tent roosting bats are members of the sex constructs tents and how they are con- family of New World leaf-nosed bats structed. This information, however, is cru- (Phyllostomidae) except three pteropodids cial to better understand the evolution of (Balionycteris maculata, Cynopterus bra- this complex behavior, in particular with chyotis, and C. sphinx) and one vesper- regard to the social organization in tent- tilionid bat (Scotophilus kuhlii). Similarities making bats. in tent architecture among the Old World The Honduran white bat, Ectophylla al- pteropodids and the New World phyllosto- ba, is a small phyllostomid (forearm length mids support an interpretation of conver- 27–31 mm) with distinctively white fur, and gence in tent-making and tent-roosting yellow ears and noseleaf.