2.2. Field collection and laboratory analysis
We follow two procedures for collecting our data: i) fieldwork in selected areas of the Colombian tropical dry forest-TDF in the department of Tolima (Figure 1, red triangle marks) using conventional methodology, i.e., mist-nets placed along trails within forest areas, at the edge of forest remnants, and near waterbodies. Each sampling night consisted of four standard size mist nets (12 x 2.5m), eight nets (6 x 2.5m) in the sub-canopy and a Triple High net (30 X 7 m), with a sampling intensity of 36.288 m2 nets/h, corresponding to 864 h in 144 nights. The captured bats were handled according to the American Society of Mammalogists guidelines for the use of wild animals for research purposes (Sikes & Animal Care and Use Committee of the American Society of Mammalogists, 2016). After capture, the age, sex, and reproductive status were evaluated, and only adult males and adult non-pregnant, non-lactating females were used for the measurements. Age and sex were identified based on the degree of ossification of the coat and tibia. Reproductive status in females was determined by examining the nipples and palpitation of the abdomen. Then, bats were put into cloth bags and transferred to measure the bite force using a portable digital fruit hardness tester (Lutron, Indian) with a capacity of 196.10 Newton and precision ± 0.05.
We follow the method of Freeman & Lemen (2008), and bite force was recorded at the molars, measurements were repeated five times for each bat with an inter-trial interval of at least 5 min. The maximum value of the five measurements was considered as the maximum bite force produced by that individual. The bite force of the species was calculated by averaging the maximum bite force of each individual. The captured specimens were used for direct measurements of the forearm length, body mass, then they were euthanized and handled for craniodental morphometry (Figure 2; see Table S1), and entry to biological collection of the University of Tolima CZUT-M (Ibagué, Colombia). ii) The second procedure consisted of measurements of 16 craniodental traits and two body traits (Table 1, Figure 2) obtained of voucher specimens from the Zoological Collection of the University of Tolima (CZUT; Ibague, Colombia), Museo Javeriano de Historia Natural ”Lorenzo Uribe, SJ” (MPUJ; Bogotá, Colombia) and Royal Ontario Museum (ROM; Ontario, Canada). The revised specimens from these biological collections belong to 24 localities in Colombia (Figure 1; Appendix I). We verified that all adult specimens according to the ossification of the growth plates of the epiphysis of the phalanges of the fingers (Dietz et al., 2007).