Updated list of bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) from the state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil, including new records

Abstract

The knowledge of the bat fauna from Minas Gerais, the largest state in southeastern Brazil, has greatly changed in recent years due to increased sampling and taxonomic revisions with reports of range ex tension and/or new species descriptions. The first annotated list of bats for the state dates to over 10 years ago. Our study aimed to update it by incorporating new localities sampled since then and by adding new species records to the list. We also conducted a comprehensive review of the literature and museum databases and analyzed 691 specimens collected in the state from all mesoregions and ecosystems deposited in collections. We documented the occurrence of 99 bat species from nine families, distributed in 181 municipalities, covering all mesoregions and biomes of the state. This is an increment of 30% in bat richness and of 241% in locality sites with bat records in Minas Gerais, when compared with the previous compilation. We report two previously unrecorded species for the state, the phylostomids Rhinophylla pumilio Peters, 1865 and Trinycteris nicefori (Sanborn, 1949). The mesoregions with the largest number of bat collection localities were “Metropolitana” (46), “Zona da Mata” (26), and “Norte de Minas” (21). The Atlantic Forest had the largest number of collection sites compared to the other biomes present in the state (102). There are a lot of sampling gaps in the state, and most of the conservation areas have not yet been sampled for bats. In face of that and based on the recent findings of several new species and records as a result of sampling and revisionary efforts, we suggest the implementation of rapid survey programs accompanied by taxonomic studies within the conservation units of Minas Gerais. Long-term monitoring programs, including bats, are also completely missing in the state.