Hostname: page-component-74656f9884-c52kr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-08T12:01:08.235Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cave bats in Jamaica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2009

Donald A. McFarlane
Donald A. McFarlane
Affiliation:
Section of Birds and Mammals, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90007, USA.
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the 'Save PDF' action button.

Jamaica has 22 native mammal species. One of these is an endangered rodent, the Jamaican hutia Geocapromys browni; the rest are all bats. Fifteen of these bats depend entirely or significantly on caves as roost sites, including two endemic species and seven endemic subspecies. These cave-dwelling bats often form large colonies whose guano deposits are of significant economic value as fertilizer, but which are vulnerable to disturbance and roost destruction. The author, who has visited and worked in many of Jamaica's bat caves over the past eight years, is currently researching the evolution and development of the Antillean bat faunas.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Oryx , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , January 1986 , pp. 27 - 30
Copyright
Copyright © Fauna and Flora International 1986

References

Arnold, M.L., Baker, R.J. and Genoways, H.H. 1980. Evolutionary origin of Eptesicus lynni. Journal of Mammalogy, 61 (2), 319–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fincham, A.G. 1977. Jamaica Underground: A Register of the Caves of Jamaica. Geological Society of Jamaica. Kingston.Google Scholar
Goodwin, R.E. 1970. The ecology of Jamaican bats. Journal of Mammalogy, 51 (3), 571–579.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, E.R. 1982. The Mammals of North America. John Wiley and Sons, New York.Google Scholar
Kerridge, D.C. and Baker, R.J. 1978. Natalus micropus. Mammalian Species, 114, 1–3.Google Scholar
Koopman, K.F. and Williams, E.E. 1951. Fossil chiroptera collected by H. E. Anthony in Jamaica, 1919–1920. American Museum Novitates, 1519, 1–29.Google Scholar
McGrath, B.R.G. 1950–1965. Surveys and field notes in the records of the Department of Mines and Geology, Kingston, Jamaica. (Unpublished).Google Scholar
Mittermeier, R.A. 1972. Jamaica's endangered species. Oryx, XI, 258–262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Novick, A. and Leen, N. 1969. The World of Bats. Holt, Reinhart and Winston, New York.Google Scholar
Nowak, R.M. and Paradiso, J.L. 1983. Mammals of the World, 4th edn, Vol. 1. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.Google Scholar
Peck, S.B. 1975. The invertebrate fauna of tropical American caves. 3. Jamaica—an introduction. International Journal of Speleology, 7, 303–326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanbom, C.C. 1941. Descriptions and records of Neotropical bats. Field Museum of Natural History, (Zoology), 27, 371–387.Google Scholar
Shamel, H.H. 1945. A new Eptesicus from Jamaica. Proceedings, Biological Society of Washington, 58, 107–110.Google Scholar