New records of coloration anomalies in bats highlight survival despite increased predation risks.
Records of bats with coloration anomalies has increased in the last years in South America, with few records from the Amazon. Here, we report new records of coloration anomalies in phyllostomid bats from Brazilian Amazon. We captured one species with leucism: Artibeus planirostris and ten species with piebaldism: Dermanura gnoma , Hsunycteris thomasi , Glossophaga bakeri , Glossophaga soricina , Lionycteris spurrelli , Lophostoma silvicola , Phyllostomus elongatus , Phyllostomus hastatus , Trachops cirrhosus , and Tonatia maresi . The impact of coloration anomalies in bats and other vertebrates has been a topic of debate, with some authors suggesting that these alterations increase the risk of predation and intraspecific conflicts, thereby reducing survival and fitness. Our findings may indicate that even with color anomalies, bats can survive, and bats reach adulthood.
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Santos et al. (2025) studied this question.
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