A New Fossil Bat (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) from a Quaternary Cave Deposit in Cuba

A new species of phyllostomid bat (Stenodermatinae: Stenodermatini) is described from a well preserved skull and two mandibular rami from a late Pleistocene cave deposit (derived from barn owl predation, Aves: Tyto) in Cueva El Abron, Pinar del Ro ´o, western Cuba. This new taxon is the second fossil species described in the genus Phyllops, and it shares some features with extinct P. vetus, also from Cuba. The fossil record supports that Cuba was an important center of radiation of the subtribe Stenodermatina during the Quaternary. The extant species, Phyllops falcatus, seems a recent arrival to Cuba from Hispaniola, after the declination and extinction of the Cuban endemic "short-faced bats" at the end of the Pleistocene and early Holocene.