Molossus rufus ( E . Geoffroy , 1805 ) ( Mammalia , Chiroptera ) : Geographic distribution and first record for the state of Sergipe , northeastern Brazil

Distributed throughout the world, Molossidae family consists of 18 genera and more than 100 species, 31 of which are found in Brazil. In this country, most of the records of Molossus rufus were taken in the southeast of the Atlantic Forest, with few records in the Cerrado and Caatinga. This study reports the first record of Molossus rufus for the state of Sergipe, northeastern Brazil. One lactating female was captured by mist nets, near buildings, in the Ibura National Forest (FLONA Ibura), in the beginning of the rainy season. This is the third species of molossid recorded to the state of Sergipe; the other two (Molossus molossus and Cynomops planirostris) were also recorded in human buildings.

Molossus rufus (E.Geoffroy, 1805) (Mammalia, Chiroptera) Molossus molossus (Pallas 1766); Molossus pretiosus (Miller 1902) e Molossus rufus (E.Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire 1805) (Nogueira et al., 2014).The type locality of Molossus rufus is the city of Cayenne, at French Guiana (Barquez et al., 1999;Eger, 2008), while it is distributed from Mexico, throughout Central and South America, except Uruguay and Chile.In Brazil, this species has been recorded in 17 of the 26 states (Table 1), with most records occurring in the Atlantic Forest, and few records in the Amazon Forest, Cerrado and Caatinga (Figure 1).In the present study, the first record of Molossus rufus for the state of Sergipe, northeastern Brazil, is reported and its geographical distribution, discussed.
On April 27th, 2014 (beginning of the rainy season), we captured a lactating female of Molossus rufus using mist nets, tendentiously set near (< 5 m) the buildings that comprise the headquarters of the FLONA, resulting in the first record of the species for the state of Sergipe.The buildings are small houses of only one pavement, with an unlined ceramic roof with short eaves and open ventilation trays in the attic.The specimens were handled in accordance with Sikes et al. (2011), fixed in formaline 10% and preserved in ethanol 70%, with subsequent extraction and preparation of the skull.After recording the basic external and cranial measurements, the specimens were deposited in the zoological collection of Universidade Federal de Sergipe.
The records of M. rufus are distributed throughout the different ecoregions, however, only four of the 91 records were made in the Caatinga, with few other records in savanna areas (Figure 1).Similarly to other members of the genus, M. rufus presents gregarious and synanthropic habits, being commonly found on roofs and linings, as already proposed by Esbérard et al. (1999), usually cohabiting with other species, such as M. molossus and Phyllostomus hastatus (Pallas 1767) (Costa et al., 2010).Although they are generally infrequent in inventories with mist nets (as in this case), its colonies can reach more than 400 individuals (Marques, 1986;Esbérard, 2011).Here, the lactating record at the beginning of the rainy season suggests that pregnancy may occur in the dry season.However, in monitoring studies, other authors suggest non-seasonal reproductive pattern for M. rufus (Marques, 1986;Esbérard, 2002).Nonetheless, the absence of records throughout the year makes it difficult to affirm any breeding pattern at the present field site.This is the first record of M. rufus for the state of Sergipe.Until this moment, M. rufus is the third species of molossid registered in this state.Similarly to the other two species, Molossus molossus e Cynomops planirostris (Peters, 1865), M. rufus was recorded in human buildings (Rocha et al., 2010).Due to the recognized inefficiency of mist nets (randomly arranged at ground level) in the sampling of molossids (Simmons and Voss, 1998), the search for and monitoring of the shelters are the most recommended strategies for obtaining robust information about the natural history of these bats.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Records of Molossus rufus throughout South America.Sites numbered as in Table 1.The blue star represents the new record to the state of Sergipe, Brazil.Figura 1. Registros de Molossus rufus ao longo da América do Sul.Sítios enumerados conforme a Tabela 1.A estrela representa o novo registro para o estado de Sergipe, Brasil.

Table 1 .
. The blue star represents the new record to the state of Sergipe, Brazil.Figura 1. Registros de Molossus rufus ao longo da América do Sul.Sítios enumerados conforme a Tabela 1.A estrela representa o novo registro para o estado de Sergipe, Brasil.Localities with records of Molossus rufus throughout South America.The numbers refer to the points shown in Figure1.Tabela 1. Localidades com registros de Molossus rufus ao longo da América do Sul.Os números referem-se aos pontos mostrados na Figura 1.