Tag Archives: Argentina

Desmodus draculae Morgan et al.

Giant Vampire Bat (Desmodus draculae)  

The Giant Vampire Bat was described in 1988 based on bones that were recovered from deposits of a cave in the state of Monagas, northern Venezuela. Further remains were found in Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, and Mexico.  

The exact age of these bones cannot be determined, they may be of late Pleistocene or early Holocene age, some scientists even think that this species may still exist. [1]  

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The Giant Vampire Bat wasn’t a real giant, in fact it was only 30% larger than its next living relative, the Common Vampire Bat (Desmodus rotundus Geoffroy) (see photo).  

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References:  

[1] G. S. Morgan; O. J. Linares; C. E. Ray: New species of fossil vampire bats (Mammalia, Chiroptera, Desmodontidae) from Florida and Venezuela”. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 101(4): 912–928. 1988  

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Common Vampire Bat (Desmodus rotundus Geoffroy)  

Photo: Uwe Schmidt 

(under creative commons license (4.0)) 
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

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edited: 23.03.2018

Monodelphis unistriata (Wagner)

One-striped Short-tailed Opossum (Monodelphis unistriata)

This species was originally described in 1842; it is still known only from two specimens, one from Argentina and one from Brazil.

The One-striped Short-tailed Opossum reached a length of about 20 cm (including the tail).

Nothing is known about its biology and it is thought to be possibly extinct.

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References:

[1] Ronald H. Pine; David A. Flores; Kurt Bauer: The second specimen of Monodelphis unistriata (Wagner) (Mammalia: Didelphimorphia), with redescription of the species and phylogenetic analysis. Zootaxa 3640(3): 425-441. 2013

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Photo from: ‘Ronald H. Pine; David A. Flores; Kurt Bauer: The second specimen of Monodelphis unistriata (Wagner) (Mammalia: Didelphimorphia), with redescription of the species and phylogenetic analysis. Zootaxa 3640(3): 425-441. 2013’

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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edited: 08.05.2022