Aim: The effective conservation and management of any given species frequently requires basic knowledge on its distribution, which is problematic for highly mobile, species‐ and ecologically‐rich groups, like bats. Moreover, to produce detailed distributions for continental‐sized, bat species‐rich countries, like Brazil, is difficult, especially considering that ~60% of the country has not a single formal bat record. Using Species Distribution Modelling (SDM), we assessed the potential distribution of >100 species of Brazilian bats.Location: Brazil.Methods: We (a) updated data on the distribution of 135 bat species, (b) generated SDMs for each species, (c) constructed species richness maps for Brazil, (d) determined areas of endemism and (e) identified areas harbouring threatened species.Results: Amazonia harbours the highest bat species richness (76% of the species), followed by the Atlantic Forest (66%), Cerrado (65%) and the Caatinga (53%). Richness in 5 × 5 km grid cells varied between 23 and 117 species and 70% of Brazil's territory is predicted to have 50–90 species, and 25% >90 species. Coastal Atlantic forest, mainly in its north‐eastern region, and along its contact zone with the Caatinga biome had the highest potential richness. However, there is a severe regional sampling bias: 48% of the records available were from the Atlantic Forest and 21% were from along the Amazon River.Main conclusions: Pantanal and Pampa are clearly under sampled, with <50% of their expected richness already assessed. Endemic and endangered bat species are in the Atlantic Forest, Cerrado and Caatinga, the most threatened biomes in Brazil. In addition to the seven nationally threatened bat species in Brazil, the situation for other species is worrisome: In a business‐as‐usual scenario, local extinctions in large portions of the country may happen before basic information gaps are filled.

O Brasil abriga cerca de 15% da riqueza de morcegos do planeta, e grande parte desta riqueza está presente no bioma Amazônia. Apresentamos aqui uma compilação atualizada das espécies de morcegos da Amazônia Legal Brasileira, com registros formais de 146 espécies, distribuídas em nove famílias, e 64 gêneros. Pelo menos 46 destas espécies têm, até o momento, a ocorrência restrita ao bioma amazônico. O Pará é o estado com o maior número de espécies registradas (120), enquanto que a porção amazônica do Maranhão apresenta apenas 21 espécies. Nove espécies foram registradas em todos os estados amazônicos e 28 são conhecidas em apenas um estado. A lista de espécies de morcegos para a região não está esgotada e é bastante plausível que a Amazônia Brasileira contenha mais de 160 espécies de morcegos. Apontamos áreas prioritárias para a realização de inventários para morcegos na região, e discutimos alguns fatores que podem contribuir para o aumento do conhecimento da quiropterofauna amazônica.

The Caatinga of northeastern Brazil is considered one of the most species-rich dry forests in the World. The area may harbor nearly 100 species of bats and correctly accessing such richness is a scientific challenge. Bat inventories have been usually based solely on mist netting, which is biased in drylands, where nearly half of the species are open-space insectivores flying high above nets, or species able to better detect and avoid nets. Here, we used mist netting and acoustic inventories in three protected areas in the Caatinga, so species richness could be compared based on both techniques. After an effort of 1,010 net.hours and 1,941 minutes of recordings, we recorded 29 species with nets, 27 on recordings, and five with both techniques. Acoustic sampling resulted in more species in 44% of nights sampled, and two nights had species recorded solely based on their echolocation calls. Species recording differed between techniques, and the driest the site, the lowest the captures with nets, while records...