Guatemala

I spent two weeks in Guatemala in 2026 on a mammalwatching-research trip led by Jose Gabriel Martinez-Fonseca and Luis Trujilo Sosa.

Sierra de Las Minas

Desmarest’s Spiny Pocket Mouse (Heteromys desmarestianus)

A largely wet four nights here in 2026 found a (probably) undescribed howler monkey; Variegated Squirrel; Desmarest’s Spiny Pocket Mouse; Short-tailed Singing Mouse; an undescribed large deermouse; Cordillera Deermouse; Southern, Small-toothed & Narrow-nosed Harvest Mice;  Highland & Cloud Forest Rice Rats; and Sumichrast’s Vesper Rat.

Common Vampire Bat (Desmodus rotundus)

We also caught Gray Short-tailed Bat; Common Vampire Bat; Great & Toltec Fruit-eating Bats; Honduran & Northern Yellow-shouldered Bats; Desert Red Bat; Big Brown Bat; Southwestern Myotis; Long-legged Myotis and a likely undescribed Myotis species.

Reserva Natural Helioderma

Menchu’s Yellow Bat (Rhogeessa menchuae). Photo Emma Busk.

During a night here in 2026 we caught several of the rare Menchu’s Yellow Bat along with Intermediate & Jamaican Fruit-eating Bats. We also saw Salvin’s Spiny Pocket Mouse; Eastern Cottontails and a Stirton’s Deermouse.

Selempin Nature Reserve & Lago de Izabal

Keenan’s Hairy-nosed Bat (Gardnerycteris keenani)

Two nights in this reserve was great for bats. We detected Northern Black Mastiff Bat; and Greater & Lesser Sac-winged Bats, and we visited a small cave containing Thomas’s Sac-winged Bats.

We caught Mesoamerican Common Mustached Bat; Seba’s & Sowell’s Short-tailed Bats; Commissaris’s Long-tongued Bat;  Common Sword-nosed Bat; Common Big-eared Bat; Central American Fringe-lipped Bat; Keenan’s Hairy-nosed Bat; Northern Stripe-headed Round-eared Bat; Cozumelan Golden Bat;  Pygmy & Thomas’s Fruit-eating Bats; and Heller’s Broad-nosed Bat.

Sumichrast’s Vesper Rat (Nyctomys sumichrasti)

We caught a Vesper Rat and saw Central American Black Howlers; Northern Four-eyed & Common Opossums.

Central American Black Howler (Alouatta pigra)

At the nearby Lago Isabel we saw Central American Howler Monkeys and Manatees.

Reserva Natural Ranchitos del Quetzal

Tschudi’s Tailless Bat (Anoura peruana)

During a night here in 2026 we caught Mesoamerican Common Mustached Bat; Tschudi’s Tailless Bat; Toltec Fruit-eating Bat; Honduran Yellow-shouldered Bat; Northern Hairy-legged Myotis; and a Northern Yellow Bat. A night walk produced a Cacomistle and a strange looking Vesper Rat.

Sierra de los Cuchumatanes

Three nights here, high in the mountains, in 2026 produced Red-bellied Squirrel; Gardner’s; Guatemalan & Orizaba Deer Mice; Guatemalan Vole; Southern and Small-toothed Harvest Mice.

Guatemalan Vole (Microtus guatemalensis)

At Laguna Magdalena we  saw a Mexican Harvest Mouse and caught a Big Brown Bat and a Guatemalan Woodrat. As a final surprise of the trip José caught rare water mouse by hand which was either a Thomas’s Water Mouse or a new species.

Thomas’s Water Mouse (Rheomys cf. thomasi)