Piebaldism in jamaican fruit-eating bats (Artibeus jamaicensis parvipes) in Villa Clara province, Cuba

Abstract

Piebaldism is a hypopigmentary disorder distinguished by a total lack of melanin in some areas of the skin and/or hair follicles, but normal eye coloration. This disorder is often confused with leucism. Like albinism and leucism, this chromatic anomaly has been reported in various groups of Neotropical vertebrates, particularly in mammals. However, these events are rare in wild populations. Among the 26 species of Cuban bats, only four cases of albinism have been documented in two species, one in the mastiff bat (Molossus tropidorhynchus) and three in the Jamaican fruit-eating bat (Artibeus jamaicensis parvipes). On the other hand, only one case of piebaldism (reidentified in this note) is known in this last species in Cuba. In this note we report two new cases of piebaldism in the Jamaican fruit-eating bat in the Cuban archipelago, and, additionally, we present (for the first time) the bat fauna that inhabits the three caves visited of the Villa Clara province, Cuba.