2.2. Field collection and laboratory analysis
We follow two procedures for collecting our data: i) fieldwork in
selected areas of the Colombian tropical dry forest-TDF in the
department of Tolima (Figure 1, red triangle marks) using conventional
methodology, i.e., mist-nets placed along trails within forest areas, at
the edge of forest remnants, and near waterbodies. Each sampling night
consisted of four standard size mist nets (12 x 2.5m), eight nets (6 x
2.5m) in the sub-canopy and a Triple High net (30 X 7 m), with a
sampling intensity of 36.288 m2 nets/h, corresponding
to 864 h in 144 nights. The captured bats were handled according to the
American Society of Mammalogists guidelines for the use of wild animals
for research purposes (Sikes & Animal Care and Use Committee of the
American Society of Mammalogists, 2016). After capture, the age, sex,
and reproductive status were evaluated, and only adult males and adult
non-pregnant, non-lactating females were used for the measurements. Age
and sex were identified based on the degree of ossification of the coat
and tibia. Reproductive status in females was determined by examining
the nipples and palpitation of the abdomen. Then, bats were put into
cloth bags and transferred to measure the bite force using a portable
digital fruit hardness tester (Lutron, Indian) with a capacity of 196.10
Newton and precision ± 0.05.
We follow the method of Freeman & Lemen (2008), and bite force was
recorded at the molars, measurements were repeated five times for each
bat with an inter-trial interval of at least 5 min. The maximum value of
the five measurements was considered as the maximum bite force produced
by that individual. The bite force of the species was calculated by
averaging the maximum bite force of each individual. The captured
specimens were used for direct measurements of the forearm length, body
mass, then they were euthanized and handled for craniodental morphometry
(Figure 2; see Table S1), and entry to biological collection of the
University of Tolima CZUT-M (Ibagué, Colombia). ii) The second procedure
consisted of measurements of 16 craniodental traits and two body traits
(Table 1, Figure 2) obtained of voucher specimens from the Zoological
Collection of the University of Tolima (CZUT; Ibague, Colombia), Museo
Javeriano de Historia Natural ”Lorenzo Uribe, SJ” (MPUJ; Bogotá,
Colombia) and Royal Ontario Museum (ROM; Ontario, Canada). The revised
specimens from these biological collections belong to 24 localities in
Colombia (Figure 1; Appendix I). We verified that all adult specimens
according to the ossification of the growth plates of the epiphysis of
the phalanges of the fingers (Dietz et al., 2007).