Designed by Paul Smith 2006. This website is copyrighted by law.
Material contained herewith may not be used without the prior written permission of FAUNA Paraguay.
Photographs on this web-site were taken by Paul Smith, Karina Atkinson, Silvia Centrón, Jon Smit and Chris Elder and are used with permission.
GREAT FRUIT-EATING BAT Artibeus lituratus
This is a big fruit-eating bat, common to abundant in forested areas and with something of an attitude problem! Three species of Artibeus are present in Paraguay, all are relatively similar in appearance. This species is identified by its size, its much the biggest of the Paraguayan Artibeus and by the presence of well-defined lateral lines on the head, these being variably less conspicuous or absent in other members of the genus.
Click on the images to enlarge them.
FIGURE 1

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 2

FIGURE 2
FIGURE 3

FIGURE 3
FIGURE 4

FIGURE 4
FIGURE 5

FIGURE 5
FIGURE 6

FIGURE 6
FIGURE 7

FIGURE 7
FIGURE 8

FIGURE 8
FIGURE 9

FIGURE 9
FIGURE 10

FIGURE 10
FIGURE 11

FIGURE 11
FIGURE 12

FIGURE 12
FIGURE 13

FIGURE 13
FIGURE 14

FIGURE 14
FIGURE 15

FIGURE 15
FIGURE 16

FIGURE 16
FIGURE 17

FIGURE 17
FIGURE 18

FIGURE 18
FIGURE 1 - (FPMAM142PH) Adult ventral, PROCOSARA, PN San Rafael (Chris Elder November 2007).
FIGURE 2 - (FPMAM143PH) Same individual head detail (Chris Elder November 2007).
FIGURE 3 - (FPMAM144PH) Same individual crown view (Chris Elder November 2007).
FIGURE 4 - (FPMAM145PH) Adult lateral, Tres Gigantes, Departamento Alto Paraguay (Silvia Centrón September 2009).
FIGURE 5 - (FPMAM146PH) Same individual head detail (Silvia Centrón September 2009).
FIGURE 6 - (FPMAM147PH) Same individual nose leaf detail (Silvia Centrón September 2009).
FIGURE 7 - (FPMAM148PH) Adult plucking fruit, Encarnación, Departamento Itapúa (Paul Smith September 2009).
FIGURE 8 - (FPMAM149PH) Adults feeding at fruit tree, Encarnación, Departamento Itapúa (Paul Smith September 2009).
FIGURE 9 - (FPMAM150PH) Adult in flight, Encarnación, Departamento Itapúa (Paul Smith September 2009).
FIGURE 10 - (FPMAM151PH) Adult specimen dorsal, Centro de Mastozoologia del Paraguay, Asunción (Paul Smith August 2009).
FIGURE 11 - (FPMAM152PH) Same specimen ventral  (Paul Smith August 2009).
FIGURE 12 - (FPMAM369PH) Adult ventral, Estancia Laguna Blanca, Departamento San Pedro (Paul Smith June 2010).
FIGURE 13 - (FPMAM371PH) Same individual head detail (Paul Smith June 2010).
FIGURE 14 - (FPMAM370PH) Same individual dorsal (Paul Smith June 2010).
FIGURE 15 - (FPMAM372PH) Same individual uropatagium (Paul Smith June 2010).
FIGURE 16 - (FPMAM373PH) Same individual foot (Paul Smith June 2010).
FIGURE 17 - (FPMAM1142PH) Adult head, Estancia Laguna Blanca, Departamento San Pedro (John T. Smit January 2011  http://science.naturalis.nl/smitj).
FIGURE 18 - (FPMAM1143PH) Adult head, Estancia Laguna Blanca, Departamento San Pedro (John T. Smit January 2011  http://science.naturalis.nl/smitj).
DORSAL

DORSAL
VENTRAL

VENTRAL
LATERAL

LATERAL
Great Fruit-eating Bat Artibeus lituratus
DORSAL (FPMAM153PH); VENTRAL (FPMAM154PH); LATERAL (FPMAM155PH)
Skulls courtesy of Centro de Mastozoologia del Paraguay, Asunción