Rediscovery of Glauconycteris superba Hayman, 1939 (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) after 40 years at Mbiye Island, Democratic Republic of the Congo

We report the rediscovery of the Pied Butterfl y Bat, Glauconycteris superba Hayman, 1939, 40 years after this species was last recorded. The new specimen from Mbiye Island, Democratic Republic of the Congo, is compared with the type specimens of G. s. superba and G. superba sheila Hayman, 1947 and a specimen from Matonguiné, Ivory Coast. The variation in the striking colouration of the pelage as well as in morphometric data is considered to be individual rather than geographic variation and we tentatively regard G. s. sheila as a synonym of the nominate form. Despite the wide distribution of this species in the tropical forest zone of West and Central Africa, only four specimens from four localities are known to date, which might indicate very specific habitat preferences. Contemporary land cover information around historic collection sites shows degraded landscapes. Given the highly uncertain area of occupancy of this species, we suggest changing the status of G. superba in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species from “Least Concern” to “Data Defi cient”

Bat trait, genetic and pathogen data from large-scale investigations of African fruit bats, Eidolon helvum.

Bats, including African straw-coloured fruit bats (Eidolon helvum), have been highlighted as reservoirs of many recently emerged zoonotic viruses. This common, widespread and ecologically important species was the focus of longitudinal and continent-wide studies of the epidemiological and ecology of Lagos bat virus, henipaviruses and Achimota viruses. Here we present a spatial, morphological, demographic, genetic and serological dataset encompassing 2827 bats from nine countries over an 8-year period. Genetic data comprises cytochrome b mitochondrial sequences (n=608) and microsatellite genotypes from 18 loci (n=544). Tooth-cementum analyses (n=316) allowed derivation of rare age-specific serologic data for a lyssavirus, a henipavirus and two rubulaviruses. This dataset contributes a substantial volume of data on the ecology of E. helvum and its viruses and will be valuable for a wide range of studies, including viral transmission dynamic modelling in age-structured populations, investigation of seasonal reproductive asynchrony in wide-ranging species, ecological niche modelling, inference of island colonisation history, exploration of relationships between island and body size, and various spatial analyses of demographic, morphometric or serological data.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Nature Publishing Group via http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2016.4

Exploratory meta-analysis of anthropogenic disturbances on amphibian diversity in the Kasugho, Butembo, Mambasa and Kisangani stations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

peer reviewedCe travail présente les résultats d’une méta-analyse de quatre études menées sur les Amphibiens à Kasugho, Butembo, Mambasa et Kisangani en République Démocratique du Congo. L’objectif principal était de vérifier le lien entre le taux d’anthropisation des habitats et la fréquence des espèces observées afin d’identifier d’éventuelles espèces indicatrices des perturbations anthropiques. L’observation directe a généré 815 Amphibiens capturés dans les habitats anthropisés (étang piscicole, jachère) et non anthropisés (marécage, forêt secondaire, forêt primaire). Sur les 37 espèces identifiées, 2 (Amietophrynus kisoloensis, Hoplobatrachus occipitalis) vivent uniquement dans les habitats anthropisés et 11 (Afrixalus quadrivittatus, Amietophrynus gracilipes, Arthroleptis variabilis, Cardioglossa gracilis, C. leucomystax, Hyperolius viridiflavus, Leptopelis aubryioides, L. ocellatus, Phrynobatrachus auritus, Ptychadena anchietae, P. chrysogaster) préfèrent uniquement les habitats non anthropisés. La plus forte similarité entre les habitats anthropisés et non anthropisés a été observée à Mambasa (étang piscicole, marécage, jachère, forêt secondaire, forêt primaire) et la plus faible entre les habitats à Butembo (marécage, jachère). Un test de Chi-carré souligne un lien entre le statut d’habitat et les abondances d’Amphibiens. Une corrélation linéaire significative confirme qu’il n’y a pas de relation directe entre les fréquences dans les deux statuts d’habitat. La présente étude confirme le potentiel des Amphibiens comme indicateurs de perturbations anthropiques des écosystèmes

Hipposideros Gray 1831

<i>Hipposideros</i> Gray, 1831 <p> DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO: 1 juv? [UN], <b>Abatupi River</b>, unknown date, leg. unknown collector (INPBC: V1057.2b); 1 ♀ [AL], <b>Île Mafi [= Mafi Island]</b>, 8 Jan. 2016, leg. Prescott Musaba, Moïse Bipoo, Charle Andabhati, Benjamin Kirongozi and Kambale Karupao (UNIKIS: ABCHIMAF12); 3 ♂♂ [3 AL], <b>Irangi, slightly E of [= Irangi]</b>, 15 Oct. 1990, leg. Wim Bergmans (ZMA: MAM.24182 to MAM.24184); 2 ♀♀ [2 AL], <b>Luhohov (River)</b>, 18 Oct. 1990, leg.</p> <p> Wim Bergmans (ZMA: MAM.24187, MAM.24188); 1 ♀ [AL], <b>Musenge</b>, 3 May 1992, leg. Ngenge Masumbuko Kamitongo (ZMA: MAM.24553); 1 ♀, 1 ♂ [2 UN], <b>Obenge</b>, 7 Feb. 2013, 8 Feb. 2013, leg. Prescott Musaba and André Malekani (UNIKIS:TLL390, TLL393); 3♂♂ [3AL], <b>Uma</b>, 12Apr. 2014, leg. Guy-Crispin Gembu Tungaluna, Prescott Musaba and André Malekani (UNIKIS: UMA504, UMA618, UMA619); 2 ♂♂ [2 UN], <b>Yoko</b>, 12 Feb. 2009, 4 Oct. 2009, leg. unknown collector (UNIKIS: GE128, GE318).</p>Published as part of <i>Cakenberghe, Victor Van, Tungaluna, Guy-Crispin Gembu, Akawa, Prescott Musaba, Seamark, Ernest & Verheyen, Erik, 2017, The bats of the Congo and of Rwanda and Burundi revisited (Mammalia: Chiroptera), pp. 1-327 in European Journal of Taxonomy 382 (382)</i> on pages 165-166, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2017.382, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/3860077">http://zenodo.org/record/3860077</a&gt

Cloeotis percivali Thomas 1901

<i>Cloeotis percivali</i> Thomas, 1901 <p> DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO: 1 ad ♀, 1 ad ♂ [2 AL], <b>Dethioux Farm, Cave I [= Shinkolobwe]</b>, 15 Jun. 1958, leg. Félix / Michel Anciaux de Faveaux (RMCA: 27907, 27908); 1 ♀, 1 ♂ [2 SA], <b>Dethiox Caves [= Kambove]</b>, 4 Jun. 1960, leg. Félix / Michel Anciaux de Faveaux (SMF: 18920, 18921); 1 ♂ [UN], <b>Elisabethville [= Lubumbashi]</b>, 25 Mar. 1966, leg. unknown collector (RBINS: 17208); 1 ♂ [AL], <b>Kaboyaboya Cave</b>, 23 Jul. 1962, leg. Félix / Michel Anciaux de Faveaux (MHNG: 1046.098); 1 ♂ [SA], <b>Kasoma Cave</b>, 13 Aug. 1962, leg. Félix / Michel Anciaux de Faveaux (SMF: 21275); 1 ad ♀, 1 ad ♂ [2 SS], <b>Kiamokoto</b>, 4 Oct. 1948, leg. unknown collector (RBINS: 10792, 10793); 1 ♀, 1 ♂ [1 SA, 1 AL], <b>Lubudi</b>, 23 Jul. 1962, leg. Félix / Michel Anciaux de Faveaux (SMF: 21276, 21277); 5 ad ♀♀, 1 ♂, 2 ?? [5 SS, 1 SK, 2 UN], <b>Masombwe</b>, unknown date, 10 Oct. 1948, 19 Oct. 1948, leg. unknown collector (RBINS: 10802, 10803, 10777, 10789, 10794, 10796, 10797, 10800).</p>Published as part of <i>Cakenberghe, Victor Van, Tungaluna, Guy-Crispin Gembu, Akawa, Prescott Musaba, Seamark, Ernest & Verheyen, Erik, 2017, The bats of the Congo and of Rwanda and Burundi revisited (Mammalia: Chiroptera), pp. 1-327 in European Journal of Taxonomy 382 (382)</i> on page 185, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2017.382, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/3860077">http://zenodo.org/record/3860077</a&gt

Taphozous nudiventris Cretzschmar 1830

<i>Taphozous nudiventris</i> Cretzschmar, 1830 <p> DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO: 1 ♀ [UN], <b>Cel II</b>, 8 Mar. 1952, leg. H. de Saeger <i>et al.</i> (RBINS: 13542).</p>Published as part of <i>Cakenberghe, Victor Van, Tungaluna, Guy-Crispin Gembu, Akawa, Prescott Musaba, Seamark, Ernest & Verheyen, Erik, 2017, The bats of the Congo and of Rwanda and Burundi revisited (Mammalia: Chiroptera), pp. 1-327 in European Journal of Taxonomy 382 (382)</i> on page 189, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2017.382, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/3860077">http://zenodo.org/record/3860077</a&gt

Pipistrellus hesperidus

Pipistrellus hesperidus (Temminck, 1840) Fig. 46 E–F Vespertilio hesperida Temminck, 1840: 211. This species used to be included in Pipistrellus kuhlii, but as found by Göpfert et al. (1995: 68) and Volleth et al. (2001: 28), the sub-Saharan specimens have a different chromosome number than the specimens from Europe and northern Africa. For these sub-Saharan populations, Kock (2001: 277) reinstated the name hesperidus. Specimens belonging to this species were collected at three localities in the CRB area: two in Rwanda (Mutura and Kitabi) and one in Burundi (Nyamugari Hill). Kearney (2013d: 630) indicates that P. hesperidus is distributed in a narrow band in eastern Africa, reaching from southwestern Eritrea, over western Ethiopia, eastern South Sudan to northern Uganda, where it splits into two branches, one along the Kenyan-Tanzanian border reaching the coast, and a second along the great lakes to eastern Zimbabwe and the eastern RSA, reaching just north of Port Elizabeth. Additionally, she marked the presence of the species in the Mount Cameroon area and in Djibouti, with some further individual localities in northeastern Somalia, western Zambia, Angola and southern RSA. Furthermore, she refers to Jakob Fahr, who indicated that some records from West Africa might be misidentified. The SDM map confirms the presence of the species in eastern Africa. The records from West Africa might need to be re-examined.Published as part of Cakenberghe, Victor Van, Tungaluna, Guy-Crispin Gembu, Akawa, Prescott Musaba, Seamark, Ernest & Verheyen, Erik, 2017, The bats of the Congo and of Rwanda and Burundi revisited (Mammalia: Chiroptera), pp. 1-327 in European Journal of Taxonomy 382 on page 103, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2017.382, http://zenodo.org/record/386007

Scotophilus dinganii

Scotophilus dinganii (A. Smith, 1833) Fig. 36 E–F Vespertilio Dinganii A. Smith, 1833: 59. * Scotophilus nigrita (Schreber, 1775): 58. * Scotophilus nigrita herero Thomas, 1906: 174. As indicated below, S. nigrita was erroneously used to identify the medium-sized African Scotophilus species. Robbins (1978: 212) showed that the correct name for this species should be S. dinganii. Hayman et al. (1966: 57, map 83) reported “ S. nigrita ” from over almost the entire DRC and from northern Rwanda, with the exception of the northwestern part of the DRC and the most central part. Here, we include additional specimens from the northwestern, southwestern and southeastern parts of the country as well as from Rwanda and Burundi. This still leaves the central part of the DRC unoccupied by this species. The only central DRC record is a specimen from Boende (Tshuapa Province), but this is a juvenile specimen, which is probably too young to be identified with certainty. Furthermore, we removed a number of localities from the northeastern part of the DRC as the underlying specimens belonged to the next species. Happold (2013 am: 674) based her distribution map on data from Robbins et al. (1985: 63), which resulted in a rather detailed map with a lot of finger-like extrusions and areas which almost touch one another. We believe that the species has a wider distribution, only lacking in eastern Somalia, southern Namibia and most of the RSA and probably also from the west and central African rainforest as mentioned by Happold. However, we need to point out that some of the east African records might need to be reassigned to a separate species, e.g., S. colias as was tentatively suggested by Vallo et al. (2011: 350).Published as part of Cakenberghe, Victor Van, Tungaluna, Guy-Crispin Gembu, Akawa, Prescott Musaba, Seamark, Ernest & Verheyen, Erik, 2017, The bats of the Congo and of Rwanda and Burundi revisited (Mammalia: Chiroptera), pp. 1-327 in European Journal of Taxonomy 382 on page 80, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2017.382, http://zenodo.org/record/386007

Neoromicia tenuipinnis

Neoromicia tenuipinnis (Peters, 1872) Fig. 45 C–D Vesperus tenuipinnis Peters, 1872: 236. * Eptesicus tenuipinnis (Peters, 1872). * Eptesicus tenuipinnis ater (J.A. Allen, 1917): 443. Hayman et al. (1966: 47, 48, map 59) showed that tenuipinnis was frequently captured in the southwestern part of the DRC (from Banana in Kongo Central Province to the area of Mbandaka in Equateur Province) and in the northeastern part (provinces of Bas-Uélé, Haut-Uélé, Ituri and Nord- Kivu). In the southeast they reach Kabongo (northern Haut-Lomami Province). The species seems to be missing in the southeastern provinces of Haut-Katanga and Tanganyika. More recently, specimens were collected in the northwestern part of the country (Tandala, Sud-Ubangi Province and Yalosemba, Mongala Province), and in northern Rwanda and western Burundi. Fahr (2013r: 656) reported that tenuipinnis is recorded from the lowland rainforest, swamp forest and coastal forests as well as from montane forest, mangroves, forest-savanna mosaic, Isoberlinia woodland, Acacia-Commiphora bushland and thicket and miombo woodland. Within the rainforest, it seems to prefer drier types of forest along the periphery.Published as part of Cakenberghe, Victor Van, Tungaluna, Guy-Crispin Gembu, Akawa, Prescott Musaba, Seamark, Ernest & Verheyen, Erik, 2017, The bats of the Congo and of Rwanda and Burundi revisited (Mammalia: Chiroptera), pp. 1-327 in European Journal of Taxonomy 382 on page 99, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2017.382, http://zenodo.org/record/386007

Mops (Xiphonycteris) brachypterus

<i>Mops (Xiphonycteris) brachypterus</i> (Peters, 1852) <p> DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO: 2 ?? [2 UN], <b>Abatupi River</b>, unknown date, leg. unknown collector (INPBC: V 1285.4.1, V 1285.4.2); 1 ad ♀ [AL], <b>Léopoldville [= Kinshasa]</b>, unknown date, leg. Guy Babault (MNHN: ZM-MO-1984-1212); 1 ad ♀, 17 ♀♀, 3 ♂♂, 6 ?? [19 SS, 2 SA, 6 UN], <b>Medje</b>, 25 Jan. 1910, 6 Mar. 1910, 16 Mar. 1910, leg. Herbert Lang, James Paul Chapin and The American Museum Congo Expedition, 16 Mar. 1910, leg. Herbert Lang, 16 Mar. 1910, leg. unknown collector (AMNH: 48819, 48820, 48821 [<b> holotype <i>Nyctinomus ochraceus</i> J.A. Allen, 1917</b> ], 48822 to 48826, 48828 to 48835, 49252, 49253, 49258, 49260, 49267, FMNH: 43876, 43877, MCZ: 17390, 17391, AMNH: 49224, RMCA: 12391); 1 ad ♀ [SS], <b>Panga</b>, 18 Sep. 1914, leg. Herbert Lang, James Paul Chapin and The American Museum Congo Expedition (AMNH: 48843); 1 ♀ [SS], <b>Tandala</b>, 16 Jul. 1979, leg. C. Brian Robbins (USNM: 537769); 1? [UN], <b>Thysville [= Mbanza-Ngungu]</b>, 11 Feb. 1987, leg. unknown collector (RBINS: 22432); 2 ♀♀ [2 SS], <b>Yalosemba</b>, 17 Jun. 1979, leg. C. Brian Robbins (USNM: 537747, 537768).</p> <p> RWANDA: 4 ?? [2 UN, 2 SN], <b>unknown locality</b>, unknown date, leg. Anthony N. Start, unknown date, leg. unknown collector (BMNH: 1975.2809, 1975.2809_1, 1975.2809_2, 1975.2810).</p>Published as part of <i>Cakenberghe, Victor Van, Tungaluna, Guy-Crispin Gembu, Akawa, Prescott Musaba, Seamark, Ernest & Verheyen, Erik, 2017, The bats of the Congo and of Rwanda and Burundi revisited (Mammalia: Chiroptera), pp. 1-327 in European Journal of Taxonomy 382 (382)</i> on pages 211-212, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2017.382, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/3860077">http://zenodo.org/record/3860077</a&gt