Mops (Xiphonycteris) thersites (Thomas, 1903)

(Table 3)

Nyctinomus thersites Thomas, 1903: 634 .

COMMON NAME. — English: Railer Mops Bat. French: Tadaride de Railer.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — 2 specimens (including original data). Other localities of Cameroon • 1 specimen; Bipindi; Zenker Georg August leg.; ZMB T10542.

ORIGINAL DATA. — During our field surveys, a single individual (Table 1) attributed to this species was capture over a slow flowing stream at an altitude of 470 m a.s.l. This specimen was the first recorded from the Mount Cameroon area, but this species had previously been recorded from Sahelian zone of northern Cameroon (Bakwo Fils et al. 2014). We did not examine any museum specimens.

DIAGNOSIS. — This specimen possesses the characteristic dark colored wings and conspicuous blackish flanks below wings between the leg and arm described by Patterson & Webala (2012) and Happold (2013i as Tadarida thersites). Other features mentioned by Happold (2013i) are also typical such as a forearm length of 35 to 42 mm. The external and skull measurements are provided in Table 3 and Table 4, respectively.

HABITATS AND DISTRIBUTION. — This species has been widely recorded from much of western and Central Africa (Happold 2013i). It has been recorded mostly from lowland rainforest and secondary forest, but also occurs in mesic savannah and adjacent grassland habitats (Monadjem et al. 2010; Happold 2013i). It roosts in small groups in tree hollows, under roof of houses and cracks of building (Happold 1987; Monadjem et al. 2010).