Background & Summary

The common vampire bat, Desmodus rotundus (É. Geoffroy, 1810) is a member of the family Phyllostomidae, subfamily Desmodontinae1. Desmodus rotundus is endemic to the Neotropics, where it occurs from northern Mexico, through all of Central America, and across most of South America2,3. Desmodus rotundus is found over an elevational range from sea level up to 3600 m in the Andes mountains4. Two subspecies are recognized: D. r. rotundus (Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay, and central Chile) and D. r. murinus (Mexico, Central America, northern and western Colombia, and western Andean slopes in Ecuador and Peru)2. Desmodus rotundus is a strictly sanguivorous species that feeds mainly on the blood of medium to large-bodied terrestrial mammals and some birds5. While groups such as humans and cattle are not natural prey of D. rotundus, they have been documented as being fed upon by this species6,7. The most common prey species of D. rotundus are peccaries, deer, tapirs, horses, cattle, pigs, and goats, and to a lesser extent, species such as chickens, dogs, and sea lions4,8,9,10.

Desmodus rotundus uses various landscapes throughout its broader geographic distribution, including open grasslands, savannas, tropical, subtropical, and dry forests, and even desert environments2,8,11,12,13,14,15. Desmodus rotundus can also adapt to different landcover types, and has been found not only in patches of old-growth or undisturbed forests, but also in disturbed areas such as agroforestry plots, silvopastoral systems, pastures, and secondary forests13,16,17. Desmodus rotundus usually roosts in small groups, from as few as 10 to a few hundred individuals, but can also be found roosting in groups of up to a few thousand individuals2. Desmodus rotundus also uses a variety of roosts, including tree holes, crevices, caves, and abandoned mines and houses2. The conservation status of D. rotundus was defined as of “Least Concern” in 2015 by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, as it is presumed to be a common species with large and stable populations18.

Desmodus rotundus can act as a natural reservoir for various microorganisms with zoonotic potential, such as bacteria, including Bartonella spp.19, coronaviruses20,21, and rabies virus12,22. Bartonella spp. bacteria are globally distributed and have been known to cause endocarditis in humans and other animals19,23,24. Endocarditis is an infection of the inner lining of the heart, and can potentially be lethal23,24. Furthermore, several variations of coronaviruses have been identified in D. rotundus20,25. In the Americas, bats are considered to be a key reservoir of the rabies virus26,27, with D. rotundus being the main species responsible for transmitting rabies to livestock28. It has been estimated that bovine rabies transmitted by vampire bats causes the death of thousands of cattle annually, resulting in economic losses of hundreds of millions of dollars in Latin America29,30. Indirect costs associated with D. rotundus related rabies include the vaccination of millions of cattle as a preventative measure, and post-exposure treatments (rabies immunoglobulin serums and vaccination) for people exposed to D. rotundus bites29,30. The perpetuation of rabies in livestock may also be associated with the abundance and distribution of D. rotundus28,31,32, as sex-related (male) dispersal may contribute to the expansion of rabies virus into new areas33. Thus, the addition of livestock to the landscape promotes suitable conditions for D. rotundus breeding and feeding28,34,35,36.

Due to its reservoir status for potential pathogens, D. rotundus is considered to be a major public health problem in the tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas. Public health concerns are particularly prevalent in Amazonian regions, where many people live in vulnerable housing37,38 and human diseases transmitted by D. rotundus remain high39. In fact, since 2020, rabies has been included in the World Health Organization 2021–2030 road map as a zoonotic disease, and now requires coordination of mitigation strategies at the regional, national, and global levels40,41. Numerous outbreaks in rural human communities have been reported in Amazonian regions, including Peru42, Brazil6,43, and French Guiana7,44.

Several Latin American countries have developed programs to reduce the number of D. rotundus bites to humans and livestock45. Culling campaigns to reduce D. rotundus populations; however, have not proven useful in reducing the seroprevalence of rabies within vampire bat colonies46. It has been suggested that D. rotundus geographic distributional expansion is linked to landscape heterogeneity, degradation, and agricultural aggregations13,37,47. Nevertheless, an increase of suitable areas under future climatic scenarios may contribute to the increased risk of rabies in some regions of the Americas34. The study and analysis of D. rotundus occurrence data are, therefore, critical for the development of preventive measures for vampire-transmitted rabies48,49. This article presents a comprehensive dataset of curated historical occurrence reports of D. rotundus across the Americas to facilitate spatiotemporal modeling and other relevant D. rotundus research. The dataset is available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.15025296 [Ref. 50].

Methods

Data gathering for this dataset began in January 2020 and ended in December 2021. Occurrence reports of D. rotundus were collected from a variety of publicly available resources and databases, from a network of natural history museums across North, Central, and South America, from official repositories in ministries of agriculture and health, from published scientific literature across Latin America, and from privately held databases from individual contributors (Fig. 1). The final dataset includes 39120 individual occurrence reports (i.e., recorded instances where one or more D. rotundus individuals were recorded or observed) (Fig. 2) and 7576 unique geographic locations of D. rotundus existence. All data were collected in Darwin Core Archive format51. The Darwin Core Archive is a biodiversity and taxonomy based data definition format that makes use of standardized terms and file structures51. The use of the Darwin Core Archive allows for better data accessibility and mobilizations, as well as facilitates the data’s compliance with intercommunity standars51,52. Desmodus rotundus occurrence reports were geo-referenced using the World Geodetic System 1984 coordinate system in decimal degree units. Inclusion criteria for this dataset were:

  1. A)

    That the report consisted of the modern species Desmodus rotundus1.

  2. B)

    The report consisted of at least one individual.

  3. C)

    The report had a recorded geographic coordinate (e.g., latitude and longitude), or a detailed locality description from which the occurrence could be geolocated (i.e., at finer detail beyond municipality level).

  4. D)

    The report was from a validatable database, museum record, published piece of literature, machine recording (e.g., acoustic monitor or camera), human observation, preserved specimen, or live specimen.

Fig. 1
figure 1

Dataset Workflow. Visual representation of the data curation, formatting, technical validation, and quality control process of this dataset of Desmodus rotundus occurrence reports. 1) Red: the data were first collected from various sources, including public data repositories, natural history museums and institutions, individual contributors, and published scientific literature. These data were formatted to meet Darwin Core archive standards. 2) Blue: the formatted data were then examined for error and underwent the technical validation process where reports which did not meet inclusion criteria were removed (see Technical Validation section). 3) Green: the data were manually examined again after the technical validation process for quality and to detect any remaining errors. This process was repeated as new D. rotundus occurrence reports were collected (dashed arrow). The final dataset was published at the end of this repeated validation and quality check process and is accessible from: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.15025296.

Fig. 2
figure 2

Map of occurrence report locations. Geographic locations of all occurrence reports in the final Desmodus rotundus dataset (red points) representing 7576 unique geographic locations available from the 39120 original reports. Inset: number of reports by sex in the final dataset (red bars) showing more reports of male individuals than females.

Metadata such as individual count (i.e., number of individuals recorded at each occurrence location, which may vary based on how the original report was collected), specimen age or life stage, basis of record, and date of capture were collected for each report whenever possible (Fig. 3). For occurrence reports where full metadata were not available or unable to be confirmed, the information was left blank in the final file (Supplementary Materials). Definitions for the database and metadata can be found in Online-only Table 1. After data gathering and technical validation the dataset was published in the Figshare data repository for public access (available at: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.15025296)50.

Fig. 3
figure 3

Data distribution by country and year. (a) The number of occurrence reports in the final Desmodus rotundus dataset is summarized based on the country in which the report occurred. The country with the most recorded occurrences was Mexico (n = 7653), followed by Colombia, Peru, and Argentina, which contributed over 2000 D. rotundus occurrence reports each. (b) Number of occurrence reports in the final D . rotundus dataset shown based on the year in which D. rotundus were recorded.

Data Records

To collect occurrence reports from published literature, a review was conducted of all publications available in the Web of Science literary repository on August 28, 2020 (ClarivateTM, 2020. available from: https://apps.webofknowledge.com/Search). We conducted a keyword search of topics in journal manuscripts, proceedings papers, and official reports. Keywords included “Desmodus rotundus”, “vampire bat”, and “common vampire bat”, and resulted in 315 manuscripts. The resulting manuscripts in Spanish, English, and Portuguese were then screened for associated D. rotundus occurrence data. A summary of these literature data sources can be found in Online-only Table 2. Additional reports were obtained from 37 institutions or researchers with privately held data. These contributors are summarized in Online-only Table 3. Data curation and validation followed the standardized protocol used for other data sources (see Technical Validation).

Occurrence reports were also collected from publicly available data repositories or databanks (i.e., web-based sources which centrally house data from other sources)53. These repositories included the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)54, Biodiversidata55, and speciesLink56. Occurrence reports for D. rotundus were downloaded from the GBIF on October 30, 202054. GBIF occurrence reports with coordinates which were located in the western hemisphere (n = 12865) were downloaded from the database in Darwin Core Archive format51. Occurrence reports based on fossil specimens (n = 3) were removed. After the cleaning and validation process (see Technical Validation), the final number of occurrences from GBIF was 12736. Originating datasets which contributed to the GBIF download are summarized in the Supplementary Materials. Occurrence reports from Biodiversidata (Uruguayan Consortium of Biodiversity Data Repository)55 were downloaded in December of 2020 from the vertebrate mammal sub dataset (n = 67)55. Occurrence reports from speciesLink (Centro de Referência em Informação Ambiental) were downloaded in August of 2021 (n = 2578). Of these reports, 918 were found to be already present in the GBIF database. In total, 1660 occurrences from speciesLink were added to the final dataset. A total of 298 occurrence reports without recorded coordinates were also downloaded from the publicly available data repositories and 48 of these reports were able to be georeferenced based on their locality descriptions. The other 250 could not be located due to a lack of detail in their locality descriptions and were therefore excluded. Georeferencing was completed using the tidygeocoder package in R57. All data are stored in the finalized dataset in the Figshare data repository for public access50.

Technical Validation

To validate the collected data, we identified “redundant” reports (i.e., unique reports present in more than one dataset repository). Occurrence reports were flagged as redundant when the occurrence geolocation information (i.e., latitude, longitude, locality, and elevation) and institutional information (e.g., institutional identification number, originating dataset, institutional code, etc.) were identical. Other metadata such as date of occurrence, individual count, sex, life stage, and basis of record were used to confirm or reject redundancy. Reports where these variables matched were flagged and manually investigated to confirm redundancy. When redundant reports were found and confirmed, the original source occurrence report was retained. This process was completed using the dyplr package and base functions such as duplicate and unique in R58,59.

All occurrence reports were also investigated to eliminate occurrences with errors in geolocation using the coordinateCleaner package60. Using the functions cc_cap, cc_cen, cc_gbif, and cc_inst, we identified and removed occurrence reports which were erroneously assigned to country capitals, country centroids, or the GBIF/Biological Institution headquarters60. We also used cc_zero and cc_val functions to identify and remove reports with 0 latitude and 0 longitude as the geographic coordinates, or other invalid geographic coordinates (i.e., non-numeric or not possible coordinates such as Northern latitudes over 90°)60. The remaining occurrences were then visualized in geographic space. Occurrence reports which were located outside of the American continents (i.e., in the ocean) were identified and flagged. These occurrences were then investigated manually for errors. Coordinates that were identified as suspicious spatial outliers (>500 km from their nearest neighbor) were validated by contacting the publishing institution or individual (e.g., the natural history museum, collection, or author). Mapping was done using the package ggplot2 in R and ArcGIS Pro software59,61,62.

Usage Notes

This occurrence report dataset includes both geographic and temporal information on the presence of D. rotundus. This information could be used to assess the distribution of the species retrospectively. Additionally, D. rotundus data could be coupled with environmental data to conduct ecological studies of the environmental tolerances of the species, landscape use, behavior, and prey availability. Future studies could also use this dataset to assess how D. rotundus distribution has changed over time and how distributional changes could be linked to climate and land cover change. Other potential applications of this dataset include the study of rabies reservoirs, which could aid in the understanding of rabies outbreaks. Epidemiological forecasting using D. rotundus data could serve to address gaps in current rabies prevention plans and could facilitate targeted social outreach and vaccination to vulnerable communities.