BONACCORSO: A PANAMANIAN BAT COMMUNITY


1973). Present information indicates that a single young is born per lit-
ter, except in the genus Rhogeessa in which the usual litter size is two
(Humphrey and Bonaccorso 1978). Reproductive patterns within bat
species vary with geography and ecological conditions, all data below
refer to BCI except where otherwise stated.

CANOPY FRUGIVORE GUILD
 Canopy frugivores are seasonally polestrous, with one birth peak at
the end of the dry-to-wet transition and a second about the middle of
the wet season (Figs. 11-13, Table 17; Wilson 1979). The first birth
peak for all species coincides with the beginning of the first predic-
tably steady rains of the year in late April and May, a time of fruit
abundance. Large species, such as A. jamaicensis and A. lituratus, are
pregnant (as detectable by palpation) by the first week of January.
Small species like A. phaeotus are not in a similar stage of pregnancy
until late January. Lactation then proceeds for 1 or 2 months (during
continued food abundance). There is a postpartum estrus, and females
are well advanced in the second pregnancy of the year while lactation
is still underway (Fleming 1971, this study).
 The second birth and lactation peaks are less synchronized among
species because of differences in gestation and lactation periods; the
same is true to a lesser degree within species because of individual


 Artibeus lituratus


 80- Pregnant R Lactating

 70- Nonreproducing

 S60-

 50-

 S40
 30-
 z
 L 20-

 10-
 few data

 J-M M-M M-J S-N N-J
 N=23 11 6 17 13


Fli;uiF: 11.-Reproductive timing in female Artibeus lituratus.


1979