Leucism in live species of bats from México

ABSTRACT

Leucism is a partial hypopigmentary congenital disorder previously recorded in México in seven bat specimens of six species. In August 2009, in the state of Hidalgo, we caught one Sturnira ludovici and one Artibeus watershousii was caught in April 2010, in Guerrero. Leucism has not been frequently reported and it may be more common than suggested by pubblished results. In order to evalute this supposition, we cheked the mammal collection of the Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas (Instituto Politécnico Nacional) to look for other evidences of leucism in bats. We found siz more specimens, three Artibeus jamaicensis and three Tadarida brasiliensis with this condition. These specimens raise to 16 the records of bats of nine species with leucism in México.