Chaerephon pumilus (Cretzschmarı 1830) – little free-tailed bat

Material. 1 ♀ juv (DDW04), Dire Dawa, at the Lega Hare River, 09°36 ʹ N, 41°53 ʹ E, 1212 m a. s. l., 18/11/2017 . – 1 ³ ad (DDW17), Dire Dawa, Toni Farm (Dire Dawa University), 09°37 ʹ N, 41°50 ʹ E, 1148 m a. s. l., 21/11/2017 .

Two specimens of the little free-tailed bat were collected in agricultural areas adjacent to Dire Dawa town. This species belongs to one of the most common bats in various savannah zones of Africa (Happold 2013b); with the exceptions of true deserts and true forests, it is distributed widely across Ethiopia (Largen et al. 1974). C. pumilus was also repeatedly recorded in broader region of the eastern Chercher Mountains, viz. Haramaya, Babile, Errer valley, Harar (Largen et al. 1974; Demeter and Topál 1982; Lavrenchenko et al. 2010). Measurements of the specimens collected at Dire Dawa are as follows (DDW04/DDW17): weight 9.0/ 10.2 g, head and body length 87/ 70 mm, tail length 27/ 36 mm, forearm length 39/ 40 mm, ear length 17/ 15 mm, largest skull length 16.25/ 17.35 mm, condylobasal length 15.18/ 16.29 mm, zygomatic width 10.18/ 10.47 mm, neurocranium width 8.05/ 8.15 mm, neurocranium height 5.41/ 6.19 mm, length of upper tooth-row 6.31/ 6.51 mm. These values conform to the measurement ranges known for the species (see, e.g. Lavrenchenko et al. 2004; Happold 2013b).