Myonycteris angolensis (Bocage, 1898)

Mongombe, Aaron Manga, Fils, Eric Moise Bakwo & Tamesse, Joseph Lebel, 2020, Annotated checklist of bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) of Mount Cameroon, southwestern Cameroon, Zoosystema 42 (24), pp. 483-514 : 495

Myonycteris angolensis (Bocage, 1898)

( Fig. 7 , Table 3 )

Cynonycteris angolensis Bocage, 1898: 133 .

COMMON NAMES. — English: Angolan Soft-furred Fruit Bat. French: Lissonyctère d’Angola.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — 286 specimens (including original data). Mount Cameroon area • 10 ♀♀, 6 ♂♂, 5 specimens; Bimbia ; 3°57’16”N, 9°14’42”E; 98 m; 4.II-5.II.1938; Martin Eisentraut leg.; SMNS 3460, 5585 to 5587; ZMB 93792 to 93796, 67157 to 67168 • 54 specimens; Buea ; 4°09’00”N, 9°12’00”E; 1050 m; 14.II-22.II.1954, 2.I-4.I.1958, 13.XI.1957; Martin Eisentraut leg.; SMNS 5075 to 5090, 5093 to 5104, 6652 to 6656, 6818 to 6827, 8151, 8152, ZFMK 1963.0211b to 0211j • 2 specimens; Mueli ; 4°23’00”N, 9°07’00”E; 600 m; 10.II-11.II.1958; Martin Eisentraut leg.; SMNS 6657; ZFMK 1961.0568 • 3 specimens; Lager I; 4°23’00”N, 9°07’00”E; 600 m; 18.XI-23.XI.1966; Martin Eisentraut leg.; ZFMK 1961.0569; 1969.0469, 0478; Lager III • 5 specimens; 4°09’00”N, 9°13’00”E; 1200 m; 2.I-21.I.1958; Martin Eisentraut leg.; ZFMK 1961.0570 to 0572,1963.0210a, 0210b • 2 specimens; Kumba ; 4° 38’38”N, 9°26’19”E; 257 m; 19.XII.1957; Martin Eisentraut leg.; ZFMK 1961.0573, 0574 • 3 specimens; Musake ; 4°12’00”N, 9°12’00”E; 2000 m; 24.III.1967; Martin Eisentraut leg.; ZFMK 1969.0467, 0468, 0480c .

Other localities of Cameroon • 6 specimens; Mount Kupe ; 4°48’05”N, 9°42’29”E; 1078 m; 3.XII-6.XII.1966; Martin Eisentraut leg.; ZFMK 1969.0464, 0465; 1969.0470, 0471, 0481a, 0481b • 12 specimens; Nyasoso ; 4°49’42”N, 9°40’55”E; 1078 m; 5.IV.1954; Martin Eisentraut leg; SMNS 5105 to 5116 • 4 specimens; Dikume - Balue ; 4°14’42”N, 9°29’36”E; 1100 m; 22.II-27.II.1967; Martin Eisentraut leg.; ZFMK 1969.0473, 0475, 0477, 0479 .

ORIGINAL DATA. — The species was the most abundant captured during field surveys, with 174 individuals (18 males and 156 females, Table 1 ). Individuals were recorded in different habitat types such as cultivated and fallow farmland, entrance of caves, around fruiting mango trees ( Mangifera indica ) at low to mid-altitudes, and in understory canopy of high altitude primary montane forest ( Table 1 ). Eisentraut (1963; 1973) and Fedden & MacLeod (1986) captured this species in both primary and disturbed forest in a wide range of altitudes on Mount Cameroon.

HABITATS AND DISTRIBUTION. — This species is widely distributed in West, Central and East Africa, but marginal in southern Africa. The species is an inhabitant of lowland rainforest and montane forest from sea level to 4000 m a.s.l. It has also been recorded in relic forest in savannah. Small colonies roost in hollow trees and entrance of caves ( Rosevear 1965; Happold 1987). Thomas (1983) noted that immature male cohorts of this species migrate between forest and savannah habitats in West Africa.

REMARK. — Formerly this species was known as Lissonycteris angolensis , but recent molecular analyses of the tribe Myonycterini Lawrence & Novick, 1963 placed Lissonycteris within the genus Myonycteris ( Nesi et al. 2013) .

Figures

FIG. 7. — Myonycteris angolensis (Bocage, 1898). Photo: © Aaron Manga Mongombe.