Macronycteris gigas (Wagner, 1845)

(Fig. 15, Table 3)

Rhinolophus gigas Wagner, 1845: 148 .

COMMON NAME. — English: Giant Leaf-nosed Bat. French: Chauvesouris de Commerson à nez feuillu.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — 4 specimens (including original data).

Other localities of Cameroon • 1 ♀; Dikume - Balue; 4°14’42”N, 9°29’36”E; 1100 m; 6.III.1967; Martin Eisentraut leg.; ZFMK 1969.0463 .

ORIGINAL DATA. — Three individuals attributed to the Giant Leaf-nosed Bat were captured during our field surveys. Two males (Table 1) were captured in a cultivated farm near a river at an altitude of 470 m a.s.l. One female (Table 1) was also netted over a water hole in a primary forest at an altitude of 630 m a.s.l.

HABITATS AND DISTRIBUTION. — This species is widely distributed in West Africa from Senegal to Cameroon, with a number of additional records further east to Tanzania and south to Namibia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique (Monadjem et al. 2010). This species generally inhabits lowland tropical rainforest (including secondary and riverine forest) and mesic savannah (Monadjem et al. 2010), where small colonies typically roost in caves, but occasionally could be found roosting in dense vegetation (Happold 1987). In Liberian Mount Nimba this species was captured in forested and disturbed habitats, ranging from 460 m to 1060 m a.s.l. (Monadjem et al. 2016). According to Happold (1987) this species does not hunt daily, it preys mostly on large beetles and often return to the roosts to consume prey.

REMARK. — We adopt the generic name Macronycteris based on the revison by Foley et al. (2017).