The bat fauna of the Saul region, French Guiana

The area around Saul, French Guiana, offers easy access to undisturbed lowland primary rainforest as well as cleared and disturbed areas near human settlements. Fieldwork conducted at Les Eaux Claires (a homestead 7 km N of Saul) in July and August 1999 resulted in capture of 40 species of bats, including 17 species previously unknown from the area. Together with records from prior studies, this brings the known bat fauna of the Saul region to 54 species. Consideration of collecting methods and comparisons with faunas from elsewhere in French Guiana suggest that the present faunal list is strongly biased in favor of understory gleaners and frugivores (members of the phyllostomid subfamilies Phyllostominae, Carolliinae, and Stenodermatinae). During our sampling period, bat capture rates were higher in modified habitats (manmade clearings, secondary growth, and disturbed forest) than in primary forest, but species accumulation rates were higher in primary forest than in modified habitats. Phyllostomines accounted for the majority of captures in primary forest, while stenodermatines accounted for most captures in modified habitats. Analysis of faunal relationships indicates that the Saul bat list is most similar to those from the lower Arataye region and neighboring sites in French Guiana. French Guianan bat faunas cluster with those from other sites in the Guiana subregion of Amazonia, and are distinct from those of southeastern and western Amazonian localities.