Thomas's fruit-eating bat (''Dermanura watsoni''), sometimes also popularly called Watson's fruit-eating bat, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most bi ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Phyllostomidae. It is found from southern Mexico, through Central America to Colombia. Its South American range is to the west of the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

. 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 A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

, where

Oldfield Thomas Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas (21 February 1858 – 16 June 1929) was a British zoologist. Career Thomas worked at the Natural History Museum on mammals, describing about 2,000 new species and subspecies for the first time. He was appoin ...

would often describe them.

Taxonomy

This species was formerly placed in the genus ''

Artibeus The Neotropical fruit bats (''Artibeus'') are a genus of bats within the subfamily Stenodermatinae. The genus consists of 12 species, which are native to Central America, Central and South America, as well as parts of the Caribbean. Description ...

'', but was reclassified, based on mitochondrial

cytochrome b Cytochrome b within both molecular and cell biology, is a protein found in the mitochondria of eukaryotic cells. It functions as part of the electron transport chain and is the main subunit of transmembrane cytochrome bc1 and b6f complexes. F ...

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 Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines * Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts * Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies ...

Population on Isla Escudo de Veraguas

The population on the small (3.4 km²) island

Isla Escudo de Veraguas Isla Escudo de Veraguas is a small (4.3 km2) isolated Caribbean island of the Republic of Panama. Despite its name, it is not part of the province of Veraguas, but rather Bocas del Toro. Although located only 17 km from the coastline ...

off the Caribbean coast of Panama was classified as a separate species within the genus (''D. incomitata'', the solitary fruit-eating bat) in 1994. It had been evaluated as critically endangered by the IUCN, being threatened by habitat loss in addition to the tiny size of its range, as well as a species in danger of imminent

extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

by the

Alliance for Zero Extinction Formed in 2000 and launched globally in 2005, the Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE) comprises 100 non-governmental biodiversity conservation organizations working to prevent species extinctions by identifying and safeguarding sites where species ...

. It was transferred to ''D. watsoni'' in 2009, based on cytochrome b data that showed it nested within ''watsoni''. The IUCN has followed this recommendation. 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. 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 phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and t ...

in the genus.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1834504 Dermanura Bats of Central America Bats of South America Bats of Mexico Mammals of Colombia Mammals described in 1901 Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas