Post-cranial skeleton of Diaemus youngi (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae): description and comparison with Desmodus rotundus

GAUDIOSO, PABLO; RUBÉN M. BARQUEZ; M. MÓNICA DÍAZ

Reno

Congreso; 92nd annual meeting of the American Society of Mammalogists; 2012

American Society of Mammalogists

We describe, in detail, the complete post-cranial skeleton of Diaemus youngi, a species of vampire very rare or uncommon throughout most of its geographic range, widely distributed but with scarce collection records. We describe the structure, size, shape and orientation of each element of the post-cranial skeleton, and compare with the skeleton of another species of vampire, Desmodus rotundus.  The latter species has been widely studied and the locomotion morphology and characteristics of the post-cranial skeleton is known in detail, while for D. youngi data are scarce. The study was based on complete skeletal of specimens deposited in the Colección Mamíferos Lillo, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán and Fundación Miguel Lillo, Argentina. Differences were recorded in both the axial skeleton as in the appendix of the two species. Remarkable differences were found, in the development of some structures such as vertebral transverse processes, or in form of the articular fovea, or the number of elements (lumbar vertebrae). Differences were also observed in the girdle (in the clavicle, scapula and ischium), and limbs (proximal epiphysis of the humerus, deltoid crest of the humerus). From this detailed description of the main question is how the differences impact on the mode of locomotion of these species, since Desmodus is more terrestrial in its movement and Diaemus is more arboreal.