Scotoecus albofuscus (Thomas, 1890)

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), European Journal of Taxonomy 382 (382), pp. 1-327 : 104

Scotoecus albofuscus (Thomas, 1890)

Fig. 47 E–F

Scotophilus albofuscus Thomas, 1890: 84 .

* Nycticeius (Scotoecus) albofuscus woodi (Thomas, 1917) : 280.

Although Hayman et al. (1966: 56) considered Scotoecus to be a subgenus of Nycticeius , its generic status was already restored by Rosevear (1965: 246) and Koopman (1965: 17), who were followed by Hill (1974b: 171), Koopman (1993: 226, 1994: 127) and Simmons (2005: 461, 464).

Only one specimen of this species has been reported from the CRB area up until now: RMCA 22412 from Baudouinville (= Moba), Tanganyika Province. It was first mentioned by Hayman (1957: 44) and subsequently confirmed by Fain (1959: 161), Hill (1974b: 177), Anciaux de Faveaux (1983: 29), Monadjem et al. (2010b: 506) and Happold (2013 aj: 668).

The distribution map presented by Happold (2013 aj: 668) clearly illustrates the rarity of this species in scientific collections, as only individual records are plotted, with the exception of small areas in Sierra Leone and The Gambia. The species occurs from the latter country in West Africa to Northern Cameroon and then continuing from northwestern Uganda, over Tanzania, southeastern DRC and Mozambique to the RSA. This leaves a wide gap between Cameroon and Uganda. ACR (2016: 1283) mentions three specimens from the Central African Republic, which narrow this gap a bit, but it nevertheless remains wide. We concur with Ansell & Dowsett (1988: 43), who state that “this species is rarely collected, though it has a wide range from Senegal to southern Mozambique. It is no doubt more widespread in Malawi than the single recorded locality would indicate”, and believe this is also the case for many other countries. The SDM map suggests that S. albofuscus potentially can occur along the northern border of the DRC, where it can bridge the gap between the two areas where it has been found up until now.

Figures

Fig. 47. Distribution maps. A–B. Pipistrellus nanulus Thomas, 1904. C–D. Pipistrellus rueppellii (Fischer, 1826). E–F. Scotoecus albofuscus (Thomas, 1890). A, C, E. Distribution in the CRB area. B, D, F. Pan-African distribution.