The importance of Palenque, Chiapas, for the conservation of Mexican bats

The bat fauna of Chiapas, is one of the most studied of Mexico, and representing about 77% of the bat species reported to the country. Although, low attention have received the bats from the Selva-Norte region (located in the Plains of the Gulf of Mexico, the Chiapas Mountains and the northern portion of Lacandona). With the objective of obtain a comprehensive list of the bat species of this region, we captured bats in 130 sites using mist-nets in Palenque Chiapas from February 2008 to May 2010. Capture sites were located in the large patch of natural vegetation that included the Palenque National Park (PNP), as well as isolated fragments of vegetation in different succession stages, live fences, riparian corridors and induced grasslands, located 1 to 14 kilometers north to the Park. With a sampling effort of 432 mist net hours/night, we recorded 52 bat species (10 species classified as habitat-dependent, 26 vulnerable to fragmentation and 16 fragmentation tolerant). Some of the not previously recorded in the Palenque area were Noctilio leporinus, Mimon crenulatum, Chiroderma salvini, Myotis californicus, M. elegans, Rhogeessa tumida, Molosus rufus and M. sinaloae. Results of this study show that the bat diversity found in Palenque, represents 42% of the Mexican bat fauna, making the PNP and its periphery, as an important area for the conservation of this mammalian group.