Kerivoula cf. phalaena Thomas 1912

Monadjem, Ara, Schoeman, M. Corrie, Reside, April, P Io, Dorothea V., Stoffberg, Samantha, Bayliss, Julian, (Woody) Cotterill, F. P. D., Curran, Michael, Kopp, Mirjam & Taylor, Peter J., 2010, A recent inventory of the bats of Mozambique with documentation of seven new species for the country, Acta Chiropterologica 12 (2), pp. 371-391 : 383

Kerivoula cf. phalaena Thomas 1912

A single adult male of this species was recorded in mid-altitude forest on Mount Mabu. It is smaller than the two Southern African species, K. lanosa and K. argentata . The species may be undescribed, or may represent a new record of an existing species (not previously recorded in Southern Africa). The two candidate species in Africa that match the overall size and coloration of this enigmatic specimen are Kerivoula africana Dobson 1878 and K. phalaena Thomas 1912 . However, the distinction between these two species is unclear based on the original species descriptions. Hayman and Hill (1971) discern the two species based on pelage coloration and the number of cusps on the inner, upper incisors (bicuspid in K. africana and unicuspid in K. phalaena ). However, these characters are inconclusive in the Mount Mabu specimen. The specimen exhibits a dark brown coloration both dorsally and ventrally, lacking characteristic grizzling, and has a conspicuous secondary cusp on the inner, upper incisor. However, cranial and external measurements are larger than reported for K. africana , and other dental and cranial characters differ (and are more similar to K. phalaena ). Therefore the specimen may represent an undescribed species, but this requires confirmation with an appropriate sample size of comparative specimens. In any case, this Mount Mabu specimen represents a most interesting discovery for Mozambique, and the first record of a Kerivoula species in the africana / phalaena group for Southern Africa as defined by Monadjem et al. (2010).

Field measurements: FA (adult male) 27.5 (1), BM (adult male) 3.5 (1)