Comments on the Systematic Status of Vampire Bats (Family Desmodontidae)

Immunologic analyses of serum proteins, studies of karyotypes, and morphology of spermatozoa reveal that vampire bats (family Desmodontidae) are more closely related to members of the family Phyllostomatidae than is suggested by conventional morphological characters. Immunologic tests show Desmodus to be related to the Phyllostomatidae through the subfamilies Phyllostomatinae and Glossophaginae. When fundamental and diploid numbers of chromosomes are plotted, two monotypic desmodontid genera (Desmodus and Diaemus) have karyotypic values that fall in the area of highest concentration of phyllostomatids. Spermatozoa of Desmodus and the third monotypic desmodontid genus, Diphylla, are indistinguishable in general morphology from those of representatives of five subfamilies of phyllostomatids. It is suggested that the vampires may represent only a subfamily of the Phyllostomatidae.