When Davis (1969) named _A. t. hesperus_, he assigned specimens only
from as far south as El Salvador to the new subspecies, referring the
three Nicaraguan examples of the species at his disposal to the nominal
race. On the night of 6-7 April 1968, one of us (Smith) netted bats on
the south part of Isla de Ometepe at a place 2 km N and 3 km E Merida,
200 meters in elevation. One net was set across, and another parallel
to, a small, boulder-strewn stream; the surrounding area was planted to
coffee and had a good canopy of tall deciduous trees. Among the bats
captured at this location were 10 _A. toltecus_ that are referable to
the subspecies _hesperus_, judging by their small size (Table 2).
Six of our specimens are females and each carried an embryo (range in
crown-rump length 20-28 mm). Three adult males had testes 5, 6, and 7
mm in length. External measurements (extremes in parentheses) of our
series are: total length, 55.9 (51-60) mm; length of hind foot, 10.7
(10-12) mm; length of ear, 14.8 (14-16) mm; weight of four males, 9.9
(8.8-11.5) gms; weight of six pregnant females, 14.9 (12.7-16.9) gms.
TABLE 2.--Selected measurements of two subspecies of _Artibeus
toltecus_ from Nicaragua.
Table Legend:
Col. A: Number of specimens averaged and sex
Col. B: Length of forearm
Col. C: Greatest length of skull
Col. D: Zygomatic breath
Col. E: Mastoid breadth
Col. F: Length of maxillary toothrow
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A B C D E F
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_Artibeus toltecus toltecus_, Departamento de Matagalpa
Average 6 40.3 20.3 12.1 10.7 6.6
(3[Male], 3[Female])
Minimum 38.8 19.8 11.8 10.5 6.5
Maximum 41.5 20.5 12.5 10.9 6.8
_Artibeus toltecus hesperus_, Isla de Ometepe, Rivas
Average 10 38.0 19.4 11.5 10.2 6.3
(4[Male], 6[Female])
Minimum 37.0 18.8 11.2 9.8 6.1
Maximum 39.7 19.8 11.8 10.5 6.5
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