Vespertilio Schreibersii Kuhl, 1817

Turni, Hendrik & Kock, Dieter, 2008, Type specimens of bats (Chiroptera: Mammalia) in the collections of the Museum f r Naturkunde, Berlin, Zootaxa 1869 (1), pp. 1-82 : 62

Vespertilio Schreibersii Kuhl, 1817

Kuhl, H. (1817) Die Deutschen Fledermäuse. Hanau, p. 6 (as schreibersi , nom. nudum), 6, 41 [1–67].

Valid name: Miniopterus schreibersii (Kuhl, 1817)

Lectotype (here designated): ZMB 2702 , body in alcohol, skull not extracted; Columbazer Cave , near Bazias, Banat, Romania; collected by Schreibers, 1809, ex Coll. J. Natterer, donated by Blasius.

Comment : In the general catalogue this specimen is annotated by Peters as “Originalexemplar von Natterer” [original specimen from Natterer]. Kuhl described this species based on a single specimen, a skin with no extracted skull, from Columbazer Cave [near Alt-Orsova = Bazias, southern Banat = Caras-Severin], Romania, obtained via Natterer from Schreibers who discovered this species in August 1809. According to the “Acquisitationsverzeichnis 1809” the NMW once contained one Expl. [= holotype?] and three “doublets” [dublicates] of “ Vespertilio schreibersi ” which were collected by “Direktor Schreibers [= Carl v. Schreibers] in der Columbart´schen Höhle im Bannat” (Barbara Herzig, pers. comm.). These four specimens were not listed again in subsequent catalogues since the second half of 19 th century, and no specimens matching these descriptions were found in the NMW. Presumably these specimens were given from Natterer to Blasius, who wrote (1857: 48): “Durch die Freundschaft von J. Natterer bin ich im Besitz von Originalexemplaren der ursprünglichen Beschreibung, ...”. [Due to my friendship to J. Natterer I am in possession of original specimens of the description …]. ZMB 2702 is probably the only remaining specimen of the type series, which we designated here as the lectotype .