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UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PUBLICATIONS
MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Volume 9, No. 14, pp. 389-396
December 19, 1958


Pleistocene Bats from San Josecito Cave,
Nuevo León, México


BY

J. KNOX JONES, JR.


UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS

LAWRENCE

1958


UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PUBLICATIONS, MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Editors: E. Raymond Hall, Chairman, Henry S. Fitch,
Robert W. Wilson


Volume 9, No. 14, pp. 389-396
Published December 19, 1958


UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Lawrence, Kansas


PRINTED IN
THE STATE PRINTING PLANT
TOPEKA, KANSAS

1958

27-5516




Pleistocene Bats from San Josecito Cave,
Nuevo León, México

BY

J. KNOX JONES, JR.


Some of the Pleistocene mammals from San Josecito Cave, near Aramberri,
Nuevo León, México, collected by field parties of the California
Institute of Technology under the direction of the late Professor
Chester Stock, have been reported previously (see Furlong, 1943;
Cushing, 1945; Stock, 1950; Hooper, 1952; Findley, 1953; Stock, 1953;
Handley, 1955; Jackway, 1958). In 1950, Professor Stock loaned a
portion of the San Josecito material to the University of Kansas for
identification. Included therein were 89 crania and rami of bats,
representing three families (Phyllostomidae, Desmodontidae and
Vespertilionidae) and five genera, each represented by a single
species. One of the species is here described as new. Three of the
kinds are known only from the Pleistocene and two are Recent species.

The only previous mention of fossil bats from México known to me
concerns material from San Josecito Cave. Cushing (1945:182) mentioned
a "vampire bat" from the cave (see also Maldonado-Koerdell, 1948:17),
and Handley (1955:48) based his description of _Corynorhinus
tetralophodon_ on a specimen from San Josecito.

Brief descriptions of the cave have been published by Miller (1943) and
Stock (1943). The precise age of the deposits is unknown;
stratification data did not accompany the material sent on loan to the
University of Kansas. However, most of the micro-fauna is thought to
have come from the higher levels in the cave and is probably late
Pleistocene.

The San Josecito Cave collections are currently the property of the Los
Angeles County Museum.

I am grateful to Dr. E. Raymond Hall for permission to study the bats
from San Josecito Cave, to Dr. Robert W. Wilson for criticism of the
manuscript, and to Mr. Philip Hershkovitz for permission to use
comparative material at the Chicago Natural History Museum. Lucy Rempel
made the drawings from photographs by John M. Legler.


_Leptonycteris nivalis_ (Saussure)

     _Referred material._--Seventy crania, LACM (CIT) 2951-54,
     2956-64, 3114-22, 3124-25, 3127, 3131-35, 3137-41, 3143-55,
     3942, 21 unnumbered, of which 35 are nearly complete,
     lacking zygomatic arches, auditory bullae and some teeth;
     three rami, one right, LACM (CIT) 3126, and two left,
     unnumbered.

_Remarks._--The long-nosed bats from San Josecito Cave do not differ
appreciably from _Leptonycteris nivalis longala_ Stains, the largest
Recent subspecies of the species, and the subspecies that occurs in the
same geographic area today. Average and extremes of three cranial
measurements of 22 specimens from San Josecito Cave, followed in
parentheses by the average and extreme measurements of 23 adult _L. n.
longala_ from the type locality, 12 mi. S and 2 mi. E Arteaga, 7500
ft., Coahuila (after Stains, 1957: 356), are: Greatest length of skull,
28.2, 27.2-28.9 (27.5, 26.1-29.0); least interorbital constriction,
5.0, 4.8-5.4 (4.8, 4.1-5.4); breadth of braincase, 11.1, 10.6-11.6
(10.7, 10.1-11.2). The San Josecito specimens average larger than the
series of Recent specimens in all of these measurements, especially
breadth of braincase, but there is considerable overlap in each case
and the extremes of greatest length of skull and of least interorbital
constriction do not exceed the extremes in the Recent series.


_Desmodus stocki_, new species

     _Holotype._--Cranium, lacking post-incisor dentition on the
     left side, zygomatic arches and auditory bullae; Los Angeles
     County Museum (CIT) No. 3129; from Pleistocene deposits of
     San Josecito Cave, near Aramberri, Nuevo León, México.

     _Referred material._--Twelve additional partial crania, LACM
     (CIT) 2946-50, 3127-30, 3940-41, 2 unnumbered.

     _Diagnosis._--Resembling the Recent _Desmodus rotundus_ but
     differing from it as follows: Skull larger (see measurements
     and Figs. 1-2), heavier and more massive; rostrum and
     braincase relatively as well as actually broader,
     interorbital region relatively more constricted; braincase
     more rounded (less elongate) as viewed from above; nasals
     less concave in lateral view; narial vacuity broader in
     relation to greatest length of skull, more nearly
     heart-shaped; palate broad, less concave medially;
     mesopterygoid fossa relatively and actually broader
     anteriorly, the sides nearly parallel; zygomatic arches
     (judging from No. 2950, the only specimen with a complete
     arch, the left) less rounded in outline, appearing broader
     owing to the more constricted interorbital region.

     Dentition larger and heavier than that in _rotundus_, but
     otherwise differing only slightly from it; upper incisor
     less concave on cutting surface (see Figs. 3-4); premolar
     and molar slightly less bladelike, with heavier roots.

     The peculiar shape of the incisor of _stocki_ is shared to
     some extent with Diaemus youngi, a Recent South American
     desmodontid. However, _stocki_ does not otherwise resemble
     _D. youngi_, differing from it as follows: Skull larger and
     heavier; interorbital constriction much narrower; zygomatic
     arches less strongly bowed; skull less compact, more
     elongate; braincase and rostrum relatively much narrower in
     relation to greatest length of skull. Furthermore, specimens
     of stocki show no trace of the minute M2 attributed to
     _youngi_ by de la Torre (Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 69:
     191, 1956). For cranial measurements of _youngi_ see Sanborn
     (Jour. Mamm., 30: 283, 1949).

[Illustration: FIGS. 1-4. Fig. 1. Dorsal view of holotype of _Desmodus
stocki_, × 1-1/2. Fig. 2. Dorsal view of _Desmodus rotundus murinus_,
male, KU 54969, La Mula, 13 mi. N Jaumave, Tamaulipas, × 1-1/2. Fig. 3.
Lateral view of left upper incisor of _D. stocki_, LACM (CIT) 2950, ×
2-1/2. Fig. 4. Lateral view of left upper incisor of _D. r. murinus_,
female, KU 54967, La Mula, 13 mi. N Jaumave, Tamaulipas, × 2-1/2.]

_Remarks._--The essential differences between _D. stocki_ and _D.
rotundus_ are in size and proportion. I do not doubt that the two
species are closely related; possibly _stocki_ is ancestral to
_rotundus_.

The species is named in honor of the late Professor Chester Stock,
under whose direction the fossil materials from San Josecito Cave were
obtained, and who, at the time of his death, was studying the mammalian
fauna from the cave.


_Eptesicus cf. grandis_ (Brown)

     _Referred material._--One rostrum, with P4-M3 on the right
     side and P4 only on the left, LACM (CIT) 2990.

_Remarks._--This specimen is referred provisionally to _E. grandis_.
The dentition is larger and heavier, and the ridges and depressions on
the dorsal surface of the rostrum are more pronounced than in Recent
_E. fuscus_. The P4-M3 length is 6.1 (approximately 6.1 in the holotype
of _grandis_, less in _fuscus_); least interorbital constriction, 4.2
(4.3 in the holotype of _grandis_, more in _fuscus_); breadth of
rostrum between infraorbital canals, 6.4; breadth across P4, 7.3.


TABLE 1.--Cranial measurements of two species of _Desmodus_.

---------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+--------
Catalogue number     | G   o | C   l | Z   b | B   b | L   c | B   f
or number of         | r   f | o   e | y   r | r   r | e   o | r   o
specimens averaged   | e     | n   n | g   e | e   a | a   n | e   r
                     | a   s | d   g | o   a | a   i | s   s | a   a
                     | t   k | y   t | m   d | d   n | t   t | d   m
                     | e   u | l   h | a   t | t   c |     r | t   e
                     | s   l | o     | t   h | h   a | i   i | h   n
                     | t   l | b     | i     |     s | n   c |
                     |       | a     | c     | o   e | t   t | o   m
                     | l     | s     |       | f     | e   i | f   a
                     | e     | a     |       |       | r   o |     g
                     | n     | l     |       |       | o   n |     n
                     | g     |       |       |       | r     |     u
                     | t     |       |       |       | b     |     m
                     | h     |       |       |       | i     |
                     |       |       |       |       | t     |
                     |       |       |       |       | a     |
                     |       |       |       |       | l     |
---------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+--------

   _Desmodus rotundus murinus_, La Mula, 13 mi. N Jaumave, Tamaulipas

10 (3 male,    Ave.  | 24.3  | 21.4  | 12.0  | 12.1  |  5.5  |  5.2
    7 female)  Max.  | 24.9  | 22.0  | 12.5  | 12.5  |  5.6  |  5.3
               Min.  | 23.9  | 21.0  | 11.7  | 11.9  |  5.3  |  5.1

                _Desmodus stocki_, San Josecito Cave, Nuevo León

2946                 | 27.3  | 24.5  |       | 14.2  |  6.1  |  5.8
2947                 |       |       |       | 13.6  |       |  5.7
2948                 |       | 24.3  |       | 13.9  |  6.2  |  5.3
2949                 |       | 24.7  |       | 13.9  |  6.1  |  5.5
2950                 |       |       | 14.1  | 13.5  |       |  5.7
3127                 |       |       |       | 13.5  |  6.0  |  5.7
3128                 | 26.5  |       |       | 13.5  |  6.2  |  5.5
3129 (type)          | 28.2  | 24.5  |       | 13.7  |  5.9  |  5.7
3940                 | 27.4  | 24.4  |       | 13.8  |  6.2  |
3941                 |       | 24.6  | 14.0  | 13.7  |  6.0  |  5.6
---------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+--------

Brown (1908:174) originally named _grandis_ as a subspecies of
_fuscus_. Gidley and Gazin (1938:11) considered it a distinct species.
Whether _grandis_ is only a subspecies of _E. fuscus_ or a separate
species, _grandis_ is closely related to _fuscus_, and probably is
ancestral to it.


_Lasiurus cinereus_ (Palisot de Beauvois)

     _Referred material_.--One cranium, lacking basioccipital,
     tympanic and mastoid regions, and most of the dentition,
     having only M3 on the right side and M2-M3 on the left, LACM
     (CIT) 3160.

_Remarks._--The cranium of No. 3160 is inseparable from those of 10
spring-taken specimens of _L. c. cinereus_ from the San Gabriel Mts.,
Los Angeles Co., California (KU 49727, 49729-37). Measurements of No.
3160, followed by the average and extremes (in parentheses) of the
Californian series, are: Condylobasal length, 16.1, 16.5 (15.9-17.2);
zygomatic breadth, 12.3, 12.4 (12.0-12.7); least interorbital
constriction, 5.2, 5.4 (5.2-5.6); breadth of braincase, 8.7, 9.0
(8.5-9.3); length of palate not including terminal spine, 5.1, 5.3
(4.8-5.9). The teeth of the San Josecito specimen are comparatively
unworn. A label with the skull bears the notation "talus" in
parentheses, which, in so far as I am able to determine, indicates
surface talus inside the cave. Therefore, the specimen in question may
be of Recent origin.

It is perhaps worthy of note that Lasiurus cinereus is primarily a
tree-dwelling bat, although a few Recent specimens have been reported
from caves (see Beer, 1954:116).


_Corynorhinus tetralophodon_ Handley

A single cranium of a _Corynorhinus_ LACM (CIT) 2989 was included in
the original materials sent to Kansas by Professor Stock. Subsequently,
this specimen was loaned to Charles O. Handley, Jr., who described it
as a new species, _C. tetralophodon_. The latter is said to differ from
all other plecotine bats by the retention of a well-developed fourth
commissure (ridge extending posteroexternally from metacone) on the M3
(Handley, 1955:48).




LITERATURE CITED


BEER, J. R.

   1954. A record of the hoary bat from a cave. Jour. Mamm., 35:116,
         February 10.

BROWN, B.

   1908. The Conard Fissure, a Pleistocene bone deposit in northern
         Arkansas: with description of two new genera and twenty new
         species and subspecies of mammals. Mem. Amer. Mus. Nat.,
         9:155-208, pls. 14-25.

CUSHING, J. E., JR.

   1945. Quaternary rodents and lagomorphs of San Josecito Cave, Nuevo
         Leon, Mexico. Jour. Mamm., 26:182-185, July 19.

FINDLEY, J. S.

   1953. Pleistocene Soricidae from San Josecito Cave, Nuevo Leon,
         Mexico. Univ. Kansas Publ., Mus. Nat. Hist., 5:633-639,
         December 1.

FURLONG, E. L.

   1943. The Pleistocene antelope, Stockoceros conklingi, from San
         Josecito Cave, Mexico. Carnegie Inst. Washington Publ.,
         551:1-8, 5 pls., February 3.

GIDLEY, J. W., and GAZIN, C. L.

   1938. The Pleistocene vertebrate fauna from Cumberland Cave,
         Maryland. Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., 171:vi + 99, 50 figs., 10
         pls.

HANDLEY, C. O., JR.

   1955. _A new Pleistocene bat_ (Corynorhinus) _from Mexico_. Jour.
         Washington Acad. Sci., 45:48-49, March 14.

HOOPER, E. T.

   1952. A systematic review of the harvest mice (genus
         _Reithrodontomys_) of Latin America. Misc. Publ. Mus.
         Zool., Univ. Michigan, 77:1-255, 9 pls., 24 figs., 12 maps,
         January 16.

MALDONADO-KOERDELL, M.

   1948. Los vertebrados fosiles del Cuaternario en México. Revista
         Soc. Mexicana Hist. Nat., 9:1-35, June.

JACKWAY, G. E.

   1958. Pleistocene Lagomorpha and Rodentia from the San Josecito
         Cave, Nuevo León, México. Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci., 61: in
         press.

MILLER, L.

   1943. The Pleistocene birds of San Josecito Cavern, Mexico. Univ.
         California Publ. Zool., 47:143-168, April 20.

STAINS, H. J.

   1957. A new bat (genus Leptonycteris) from Coahuila. Univ. Kansas
         Publ., Mus. Nat. Hist., 9:353-356, January 21.

STOCK, C.

   1943. The cave of San Josecito, Mexico. New discoveries of
         vertebrate life of the ice age. Eng. Sci. Monthly, California
         Inst. Tech., Balch Grad. School Geol. Sci. Contrib., 361:1-5,
         September.

   1950. Bears from the Pleistocene cave of San Josecito, Nuevo Leon,
         Mexico. Jour. Washington Acad. Sci., 40:317-321, 1 fig.,
         October 23.

   1953. El caballo pleistocenico (_Equus conversidens leoni_, subsp.
         nov.) de la cueva de San Josecito, Aramberra, Nuevo Leon.
         Mem. Congr. Cient. Mex., 3:170-171.


_Transmitted August 18, 1958._


27-5516



       *       *       *       *       *

Transcriber's Note:

Replaced the two occurrences of male and female symbols with the words
"male" and "female".