Thomas's fruit-eating bat (Dermanura watsoni), sometimes also popularly called Watson's fruit-eating bat,[2] is a speciesofbat in the familyPhyllostomidae.[3] It is found from southern Mexico, through Central America to Colombia. Its South American range is to the west of the Andes.[1] The species name is in honor of H. J. Watson, a plantation owner in western Panama who used to send specimens to the British Natural History Museum, where Oldfield Thomas would often describe them.[2][4]
This species was formerly placed in the genus Artibeus, but was reclassified, based on mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequence data, in 2004. Dermanura, formerly a subgenus of Artibeus, was elevated to a separate genus. The two genera cannot be differentiated by morphology.[1][5]
The population on the small (3.4 km2) island Isla Escudo de Veraguas off the Caribbean coast of Panama was classified as a separate species within the genus (D. incomitata, the solitary fruit-eating bat) in 1994.[6][7] It had been evaluated as critically endangered by the IUCN, being threatened by habitat loss in addition to the tiny size of its range,[8] as well as a species in danger of imminent extinction by the Alliance for Zero Extinction.[9] It was transferred to D. watsoni in 2009, based on cytochrome b data that showed it nested within watsoni.[10] The IUCN has followed this recommendation.[1] Solari et al. (2009) described it as the subspecies D. w. incomitata. They stated that "The paraphyly and specific status of watsoni/incomitata is not easily resolved" and suggested that nuclear DNA sequence comparisons would be useful.[10] The only morphological distinction between the island and mainland populations noted was differences in the cusps of the lower molars, while the DNA sequence divergence of 3.6% is less than typical for sister species in the genus.[10]
^ abcSolari, S.; Hoofer, S. R.; Larsen, P. A.; Brown, A. D.; Bull, R. J.; Guerrero, J. A.; Ortega, J.; Carrera, J. P.; Bradley, R. D.; Baker, R. J. (2009). "Operational Criteria for Genetically Defined Species: Analysis of the Diversification of the Small Fruit-Eating Bats, Dermanura (Phyllostomidae: Stenodermatinae)". Acta Chiropterologica. 11 (2): 279–288. doi:10.3161/150811009X485521. S2CID15355333.
