Abstract Only less than 2% of bat species use modified leaves as roosts called ‘tents’. Few systematic surveys have been conducted to assess the abundance, diversity and density of tent-roosting bats and their tents. We present new records of plants used as tents and a new record of a tent-roosting bat species resulting from the first-ever bat tent survey conducted in the northern Atlantic Forest of Brazil. After two field visits for active search in the Murici Ecological Station (MES) in Alagoas state, 45 tents were found, with a density of three tents per hectare in a covered area of 3,340 m 2 (0.34 ha). Three umbrella-type tents housed one individual of Artibeus obscurus each, all constructed on leaves of the hemi-epiphyte Philodendron ornatum (Araceae). This is the first record of A. obscurus using and probably modifying leaves to use them as a roost. One boat-type tent harboured two Vampyressa pusilla on the hemi-epiphyte Philodendron fragantissimum, representing the northernmost records of tents in the Atlantic Forest and for northeastern Brazil. The MES represents an important area for protecting tent-roosting bats in northeast Brazil, given the extensive historical deforestation and habitat loss within the Pernambuco Endemism Center and the northern Atlantic Forest.
Vargas‐Mena et al. (Thu,) studied this question.