Florida specimens (two mandibles[5]) were only tentatively referred to Pteronotuscf.P. pristinus,[4] because they could not be directly compared with the Cuban material (several skulls, postcranial elements), but they may represent P. pristinus.[6]
This is the only occurrence of Pteronotus in the United States, fossil or recent.[3] Cuba is the most likely source for West Indian bats in Florida.[5]
Extinction
In Florida, the pristine mustached bat became locally extinct at the end of the Pleistocene,[3][5] what probably resulted from the rise in sea level, the subsequent flooding of caves and loss of roosting sites.[5]
The sea level in Florida was as much as 100 m lower in late Pleistocene, as well water tables, and cave systems in Monkey Jungle Hammock, Cutler Hammock and Rock Springs were dry. But during the latest Pleistocene the rising sea level caused flooding of these cave systems and destroyed a hot and humid microclimate of so-called hot caves. Currently two first of them are sediment-filled sinkholes few meters above sea level, third one is submerged.[3]
In these three sites in southern peninsula, the sea level stand change presumably was also reason of extirpation of another tropical cave-dwelling bat in the Neotropical family Mormoopidae (extralimital ghost-faced batMormoops megalophylla) and one North American species (southeastern myotisMyotis austroriparius) as well.[3][5] The fourth species - big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus) became rare in Florida caves.[5]
^Mammal Species of the World, 3rd edition (MSW3)[2] - common name probably incorrectly spelled as "Prinstine Mustached Bat" (with insterted "n" character).
^ abcSilva-Taboada, Gilberto (1974). "Fossil Chiroptera from cave deposits in central Cuba, with description of two new species (genera Pteronotus and Mormoops), and the first West Indian record of Mormoops megalophylla". Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia. 19 (3). Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe (PWN): 33–73.
^ abcMorgan, Gary S. & Emslie, Steven D. (1991). "Neotropical Chiroptera from the Pliocene and Pleistocene of Florida". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 206: 176–213.
^ abcdefMorgan, Gary S. (2002). "Late Rancholabrean Mammals from Southernmost Florida, and the Neotropical Influence in Florida Pleistocene Faunas". In Emry, Robert J. (ed.). Cenozoic Mammals of Land and Sea. Tributes to the Career of Clayton E. Ray(PDF). Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology. Vol. 93. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. pp. 15–38. Retrieved April 12, 2014.
^National Geophysical Data Center, 1999. Global Land One-kilometer Base Elevation (GLOBE) v.1. Hastings, D. and P.K. Dunbar. National Geophysical Data Center, NOAA. doi:10.7289/V52R3PMS [access date: 2015-03-16]
^Amante, C. and B.W. Eakins, 2009. ETOPO1 1 Arc-Minute Global Relief Model: Procedures, Data Sources and Analysis. NOAA Technical Memorandum NESDIS NGDC-24. National Geophysical Data Center, NOAA. doi:10.7289/V5C8276M [access date: 2015-03-18].