The Vampyressa melissa species complex comprises three rare bat species poorly represented in museum collections. Vampyressa melissa and V. sinchi are restricted to the eastern slope of the Andes, while V. elisabethae only is known from Panama, in Central America. The species complex has received recent attention in terms of systematic reviews, which concluded in the description of two species: one from Panama (V. elisabethae) and one from Colombia (V. sinchi). Vampyressa melissa recently was reported from the eastern slopes of the Cordillera Oriental of Colombia, in the department of Casanare. However, morphological and genetic (Cytochrome b) comparisons showed that these specimens belong to an undescribed species of the genus. The new species is the smallest member of the V. melissa complex and has a unique set of morphological characters compared to other Vampyressa species. Molecular evidence shows that the new species is sister to V. melissa (sensu stricto) from Colombia and Peru, albeit with high genetic divergence (7.9%). Nevertheless, Cytochrome b sequences of V. elisabethae and V. sinchi still are unknown. This new species increases to six the number of species in the genus. Vampyressa melissa, V. sinchi, and the new species, exhibit restricted distributions in the eastern slopes of the Andean Cordillera, in specific altitudinal ranges. Because of geographic constraints, their biological rarity, and the high deforestation rates in their distributional area, we suggest that these three species must be considered as taxa threatened with extinction.

中文翻译：

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来自哥伦比亚的黄耳蝙蝠Vampyressa melissa种复合物（鳞翅目：Phyllostomidae）的一种新的隐性物种

在黄耳蝠属梅丽莎品种繁杂包括博物馆藏品较差的是三个稀有种类的蝙蝠。Vampyressa melissa和V. sinchi只限于安第斯山脉的东坡，而V. elisabethae仅在中美洲的巴拿马才知道。该物种复合体在系统评价方面受到了最近的关注，在对两种物种的描述中得出结论：一种来自巴拿马（V. elisabethae），另一种来自哥伦比亚（V. sinchi）。最近从卡萨纳雷省哥伦比亚东方山脉的东坡报道了Vampyressa melissa。但是，形态学和遗传学（细胞色素b）比较显示，这些标本属于未描述的属。与其他吸血鬼物种相比，新物种是蜜蜂弧菌中最小的成员，并且具有独特的形态特征。分子证据表明，新物种是哥伦比亚和秘鲁的蜜蜂（V. melissa）的姊妹，尽管遗传差异很大（7.9％）。然而，细胞色素b序列五elisabethae和V. sinchi仍然是未知的。该新物种增加到该属中的物种数量的六个。黄耳蝠属梅丽莎，五sinchi和新物种在特定海拔范围内在安第斯山脉东部斜坡上的分布受到限制。由于地理限制，它们的生物稀有性以及分布区域的高森林砍伐率，我们建议必须将这三个物种视为濒临灭绝的生物群。