Scotophilus nux Thomas, 1904

Decher, Jan, Hoffmann, Anke, Schaer, Juliane, N Orris, Ryan W., Kadjo, Blaise, Astrin, Jonas, Monadjem, Ara & Hutterer, Rainer, 2015, Bat diversity in the Simandou Mountain Range of Guinea, with the description of a new white-winged vespertilionid, Acta Chiropterologica 17 (2), pp. 255-282 : 274

Scotophilus nux Thomas, 1904

New material

ZFMK 2008.0306, ♂, FC, 7 March 2008.

Three individuals of this large orange-colored bat were captured at FC, all in the canopy net set over the creek. These were initially identified as S. nigrita using the keys by Hayman and Hill (1971) but following Robbins (1978) and Robbins et al. (1985), S. nigrita should now be considered a senior synonym of the much larger S. gigas ( FA = 86 mm). The smaller Scotophilus ( FA = 51–59 mm), formerly called S. nigrita , are now either S. dinganii or S. nux . Similarly, Konstantinov et al. (2000) reported a specimen ‘near Kindia’ as S. nigrita , but Weber and Fahr (2007 b) correctly pointed out that based on the forearm measurement (51 mm) the identification of this specimen needs to be either S. dinganii or S. nux . The identification as S. nux was confirmed in a molecular genetic study that included our voucher specimen from FC ( R. G. Trujillo, in litt.). During the 2003 RAP, Fahr et al. (2006) caught one specimen of S. nux at Kpinita (Kpogo River), Mount Béro, and they refer to another specimen from the Forêt Classée de Diecké mentioned in Bützler (1994). Fahr (1996) pointed out that Hill (1982) and Wolton et al. (1982) list two specimens from the Liberian portion of Mount Nimba under S. dinganii but found that forearm measurements by Hill (1982) are clearly above the range for this species so that these specimens should also be assigned to S. nux . Most occurrences of S. nux are associated with the high forest zone from Sierra Leone to western Kenya ( Robbins et al., 1985). At Nimba it reaches 600 m ( Hill, 1982). Grubb et al. (1998: 91) discuss this species as the “forest form” of S. dinganii (S. d. nux ) and report that T. J. Jones “found it quite common in built up areas where it roosted in small groups in the roofs of houses and thatched huts” and “it has also been taken in holes in trees.”

Conservation status

Least Concern. Population trend unknown ( IUCN, 2015).