Bats of Jaú National Park, central Amazônia, Brazil

Although recognized as highly diverse, the bat fauna of the Amazon basin has been only patchily sampled. This paper combines data from five short surveys conducted between 1998 and 2001 in Jaú National Park, 220 km east of Manaus, central Amazônia. We used mist-nets, recordings of echolocation calls and roost visits to provide the first bat inventory for this area. A total of 53 bat species in 33 genera and five families were documented, including several species that are regarded as rare, in particular Saccopteryx gymnura, Vampyriscus brocki, Molossops neglectus, and Promops centralis. The Chao 1 index indicates that sampling is about 72% complete, suggesting that around 73 bat species might co-exist in Jaú. We compare the composition of Jaú's bat fauna to those of other sites in Amazônia and interpret the resulting patterns of diversity. Data on reproduction are given for 14 species.