Rhinolophus swinnyi, GOUGH, 1908

Taylor, Peter J., Macdonald, Angus, Goodman, Steven M., Kearney, Teresa, Cotterill, Fenton P. D., Stoffberg, Sam, Monadjem, Ara, Schoeman, M. Corrie, Guyton, Jennifer, Naskrecki, Pitor & Richards, Leigh R., 2018, Integrative taxonomy resolves three new cryptic species of small southern African horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 184, pp. 1249-1276 : 1273

RHINOLOPHUS SWINNYI GOUGH, 1908

SWINNY’ S HORSESHOE BAT

Synonyms: Rhinolophus swinnyi piriensis Hewitt, 1913 , South Africa, Eastern Cape Province, Pirie, near King Williams Town.

Types: TMSA 1021 (holotype, male), 1022 (cotype, male), collected on 22–23 February 1908 by H. H. Swinny.

Type locality: South Africa, Eastern Cape Province, Pondoland, Ngqeleni District , - 31.667° S, 29,033° E.

Referred specimens having molecular identifications: None.

Referred specimens having only morphological identifications: All specimens originate from South Africa. DM 7084 , adult male collected by P. J. Taylor on 3 March 2001 and DM 13250 , 13252 and 13254 (all of unknown sex), collected by E. J. Richardson on 2 November 2010 from the Eastern Cape Province, Insizwe Mine , (- 30.804° S, 29.281° E) ; DM 14036 (male), collected by M. C. Schoeman on 9 May 2012 from the KwaZulu-Natal Province, Pietermaritzburg, Ferncliff Nature Reserve , (- 29.550° S, 30.320° E) ; DM 14291 (female) and 14292 (female) collected by L. R. Richards on 1 April 2014 from the KwaZulu-Natal Province, Eshowe, Entumeni Nature Reserve , (- 28.886° S, 31.376° E) ; DM 14441 (female) and 14440 (male) collected by S. Stoffberg and M. C. Schoeman on 23 July 2004 from Eastern Cape Province, Kokstad Mine , (- 30.810° S, 29.280° E) ; DM 15018 , adult female collected by L. R. Richards on 7 April 2016 from Eastern Cape Province, Sandile’s Rest Trout and Forest Country Estate , (- 32.661° S, 27.298° E) ; TMSA 39848 , adult male collected by G. Bronner on 14 March 1988 from KwaZulu-Natal Province, Ngome Forest Reserve , (- 27.833° S, 31.413° E).

Re-diagnosis and comparisons: Gough’s (1908) original description emphasized inter alia, the very small size of the species, the ‘mouse = grey’ colour, the position of the anterior premolar within the toothrow, the medium-sized ears, the shape of the connecting process (‘forming a marked projection, rounded terminally’), the parallel-sided edges of the sella and the moderate lancet with strongly concave edges. Rhinolopus swinny s.s., as defined here, confined to the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and possibly Mpumalanga Provinces, South Africa, is clearly distinct on molecular grounds from R. rhodesiae and R. gorongosae sp. nov., and has as its closest relative, R. capensis with which it overlaps in range in the Eastern Cape. The echolocation peak frequency of R. swinnyi s.s. calls recorded in the Eastern Cape [mean 106.6 ± 0.4 kHz, N = 10; Schoeman & Jacobs (2008; Table S1 )] and KwaZulu-Natal (mean 105.6 ± 0.76 kHz; this study) Provinces, South Africa overlap considerably, but differ clearly from the 100 kHz calls of R. rhodesiae from central and northern South Africa and Mozambique (and probably more broadly).

Although R. swinnyi s.s. overlaps in external and cranial characters with R. rhodesiae , it can be distinguished from the latter taxon based on both baculum and noseleaf characters, as well as on detailed cranial shape analysis (see above). It can be differentiated from R. gorongosae sp. nov. on its larger size (e.g. condylecanine skull length 14.8–15.2 mm in R. gorongosae sp. nov., 14.3–16.0 mm in R. swinnyi ; zygomatic width 8.13–8.56 mm in R. gorongosae sp. nov., 8.7–9.2 mm in R. swinnyi ; Table 2 ), as well as on noseleaf, bacular and subtle cranial shape characters (see above).

Distribution and biology: We here restrict the distribution of R. swinnyi s.s. to South Africa, including the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal Provinces and possibly Mpumalanga Province ( Fig. 11 ). However, a recent specimen collected from the montane western region of Swaziland has tentatively been assigned to R. rhodesiae based on morphology and acoustics (maximum frequency = 102 kHz), but a molecular analysis has yet to be conducted (A. Monadjem, unpublished data); this suggests that R. rhodesiae (and not R. swinnyi ) occurs to the north in Mpumalanga Province. Specimens from Limpopo Province in the north of South Africa are referred to R. rhodesiae . As pointed out above, swinnyi and rhodesiae co-occur at at least one locality, Ferncliff Cave, in central KwaZulu-Natal.

Figures

Figure 11. Final distribution of small Rhinolophus species classified according to the present study.