Pseudoromicia nyanza, 2020

Monadjem, Ara, Demos, Terrence C, Dalton, Desire L, Webala, Paul W, Musila, Simon, Kerbis Peterhans, Julian C & Patterson, Bruce D, 2020, A revision of pipistrelle-like bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) in East Africa with the description of new genera and species, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society (Zool. J. Linn. Soc.) 190, pp. 1-33 : 23-24

PSEUDOROMICIA NYANZA MONADJEM, PATTERSON, WEBALA & DEMOS SP. NOV.

NYANZA SEROTINE

LSID: http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:71737F08-2938-4403-8385-5438B2E5EABE

Neoromicia tenuipinnis Patterson & Webala (2012) .

Neoromicia tenuipinnis Musila et al. (2019) .

Neoromicia tenuipinnis Rydell et al. (2020) .

Holotype: FMNH 215626 , field number BDP 5719. This specimen was collected on 8 January 2012 by Bruce D. Patterson, Paul W. Webala and Carl W. Dick. It is an adult male, formalin-fixed and preserved in ethanol. Its skull has been extracted and cleaned, its glans penis removed and the baculum stained and extracted. Muscle tissue was also preserved in liquid nitrogen at the time of capture. Type locality: Kisumu Impala Sanctuary, State Lodge Campsite, Kisumu County (formerly Nyanza province), Kenya, at an elevation of 1130 m above sea level; geographical coordinates: 0.10961°S, 34.74593°E ( Fig. 1 ). The sanctuary borders both Lake Victoria and Kenya’s fifth largest city, Kisumu, and is only 0.34 km 2 in area. Vegetation consisted of open parkland, shortstatured trees and shrubs.

Paratypes: Four other individuals ( FMNH 215625 , FMNH 215627 , FMNH 215628 and FMNH 215629 ), all females, were collected at the same location and on the same night as the holotype and closely resemble it genetically ( Fig. 3B ) and morphologically ( Tables 5–7), qualifying them as paratypes .

Etymology: This species is named after the region where it was found, Nyanza, which derives from the Bantu word for ‘large body of water’. Covering nearly 60 000 km 2, Lake Victoria surely qualifies. The name is used as a noun in apposition.

Diagnosis: This is a medium-sized member of the genus Pseudoromicia , with a mean forearm length of 31.2 mm ( Table 5) and greatest skull length of 12.96 mm ( Table 6). It is genetically distinct from all other Pseudoromicia species ( Fig. 3B ). Furthermore, it is readily distinguished from the dark-winged members of this genus ( Pse. roseveari , Pse. brunnea and Pse. kityoi ) by its white wings. It can be distinguished from Pse. rendalli by its smaller size (mostly non-overlapping forearm length and craniodental measurements ( Tables 5–7) and weakly bicuspid I 1 (unicuspid in Pse. rendalli ). It is significantly larger than Pse. tenuipinnis , with hardly any overlapping external and craniodental measurements ( Tables 5–7); furthermore, its dorsal fur is medium brown and bicoloured (dark brown and unicoloured in Pse. tenuipinnis ). It is most like Pse. isabella in size and external appearance, but that species has rusty tips to the fur on its upper parts, whereas Pse. nyanza has white-tipped hairs. The taxon Eptesicus ater J. A. Allen, 1917 , which was described from north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, is currently considered a synonym of Pse. tenuipinnis ( Simmons, 2005) and is far smaller than Pse. nyanza , with a reported total length of 68 mm. Furthermore, Pse. tenuipinnis has ‘brownish black’ fur on its back ( Allen et al., 1917), contrasting with the light-tipped fur of Pse. nyanza .

Description: External characters: Pseudoromicia nyanza is a medium-sized pipistrelle-like bat with white patagial and uropatagial membranes ( Fig. 8B ). The dorsal pelage is medium brown with white-tipped hairs over most of the back. The ventral hairs are pure white with a dark base. The ears are short and rounded, and the tragus is broad and truncated, as in Pse. tenuipinnis ( Monadjem et al., 2013) .

Craniodental characters: The skull is relatively gracile, as in Pse. tenuipinnis and Pse. isabella . In lateral profile, the cranium slopes gently up from the rostrum to the top of the braincase. There is no occipital ‘helmet’, and the sagittal and lambdoidal crests are absent. The zygomatic arches are fragile, as in Pse. tenuipinnis and Pse. isabella ( Fig. 10 ). The dentition in Pse. nyanza is typical of the genus, with I 2/3, C 1/1, P 1/3, M 2/3. In the upper tooth row, I 1 is weakly but distinctly bicuspid and I 2 is moderate in size, slightly more than half the length of I 1. The P 1 is absent, putting C in contact with P 2. The m 3 is myotodont sensu Van Cakenberghe & Happold (2013).

Biology: Judging by how frequently this species is captured, it is common west of the Rift Valley in Kenya (B. D. Patterson & P. W. Webala, personal observation). It seems to prefer forest-edge habitats and avoids the forest interior ( Rydell et al., 2020,

Figures

Figure 1. Type localities of taxa of African and Malagasy Vespertilionini and Pipistrellini. Valid species are denoted by filled circles, subspecies and synonyms by open circles and species described herein by stars: 1, Pipistrellus abaensis J. A. Allen, 1917; 2, N[ycticejus]. adovanus Heuglin, 1877; 3, Pipistrellus aero Heller, 1912; 4, Vespertilio pipistrellus var. africanus Rüppell, 1842; 5, Nycticeius africanus G. M. Allen, 1911; 6, Scotoecus albigula Thomas, 1909; 7, Scoteinus schlieffeni albiventer Thomas & Wroughton, 1908; 8, Scotophilus albofuscus Thomas, 1890; 9, Vesperugo anchietae Seabra, 1900; 10, Laephotis angolensis Monard, 1935; 11, Eptesicus capensis angolensis Hill, 1937; 12, Pipistrellus ariel Thomas, 1904; 13, Scotoecus artinii De Beaux, 1923; 14, Eptesicus ater J. A. Allen, 1917; 15, Pipistrellus nanus australis Roberts, 1913; 16, Scoteinus schlieffeni australis Thomas & Wroughton, 1908; 17, Scoteinus schlieffeni bedouin Thomas & Wroughton, 1908; 18, Pipistrellus eisentrauti bellieri De Vree, 1972; 19, Hypsugo bemainty Goodman et al., 2015; 20, Vesperus bicolor Bocage, 1889; 21, Laephotis botswanae Setzer, 1971; 22, Pipistrellus (Romicia) kuhlii broomi Roberts, 1948; 23, Vesperugo (Vesperus) brunneus Thomas, 1880; 24, Vespertilio capensis A. Smith, 1829; 25, Scotoecus cinnamomeus Wettstein, 1916; 26, Pipistrellus crassulus Thomas, 1904; 27, Pipistrellus culex Thomas, 1911; 28, Vesperus damarensis Noack, 1889; 29, Scotophilus darwini Tomes, 1859; 30, Pipistrellus deserti Thomas, 1902; 31, Pipistrellus eisentrauti Hill, 1968; 32, Scotoecus falabae Thomas, 1915; 33, Eptesicus faradjius J. A. Allen, 1917; 34, Scoteinus schlieffeni fitzsimonsi Roberts, 1932; 35, Pipistrellus fouriei Thomas, 1926; 36, Pipistrellus kuhlii fuscatus Thomas, 1901; 37, Pipistrellus fuscipes Thomas, 1913; 38, Eptesicus garambae J. A. Allen, 1917; 39, Vespertilio capensis gracilior Thomas & Schwann, 1905; 40, Vesperugo (Vesperus) grandidieri Dobson, 1876; 41, Vesperus guineensis Bocage, 1889; 42, Pipistrellus hanaki Hulva & Benda, 2004; 43, Parahypsugo happoldorum Hutterer, Decher, Monadjem & Astrin, 2019; 44, Pipistrellus helios Heller, 1912; 45, Vespertilio hesperida Temminck, 1840; 46, Scotoecus hindei Thomas, 1901; 47, Scotophilus hirundo de Winton, 1899; 48, Vesperus humbloti Milne-Edwards, 1881; 49, Vesperugo hypoleucus Heuglin [in Fitzinger & Heuglin], 1866; 50, Pipistrellus inexspectatus Aellen, 1959; 51, Neoromicia isabella Decher, Hutterer & Monadjem, 2016; 52, Laephotis kirinyaga Monadjem et al., this paper; 53, Pseudoromicia kityoi Monadjem et al., this paper; 54, Hypsugo lanzai Benda, Al-Jumaily, Reiter & Nasher, 2011; 55, Pipistrellus leucomelas Monard, 1932; 56, Parahypsugo macrocephalus Hutterer & Kerbis Peterhans, 2019; 57, Vesperugo maderensis Dobson, 1878; 58, Eptesicus somalicus malagasyensis Peterson, Eger & Mitchell, 1995; 59, Vespertilio marginatus Cretzschmar, 1830; 60, Pipistrellus marrensis Thomas & Hinton, 1923; 61, Vespertilio matroka Thomas & Schwann, 1905; 62, Pipistrellus africanus meesteriKock,2001;63,Eptesicus melckorumRoberts,1919;64,Scotophilusminimus Noack,1887;65,Pipistrellus minusculus Miller, 1900; 66, Vespertilio minuta Temminck, 1840; 67, Pipistrella minuta Loche, 1867; 68, Pipistrellus musciculus Thomas, 1913; 69, Laephotis namibensis Setzer, 1971; 70, Pipistrellus nanulus Thomas, 1904; 71, Vespertilio nanus Peters, 1852; 72, Eptesicus capensis nkatiensis Roberts, 1932; 73, Scabrifer notius G. M. Allen, 1908; 74, Pseudoromicia nyanza Monadjem et al., this paper; 75, †Scotoecus olduvensis Gunnell, Butler, Greenwood & Simmons, 2015; 76, Vesperugo pagenstecheri Noack, 1889; 77, Pipistrellus (Pipistrellus) permixtus Aellen, 1957; 78, Eptesicus phasma G. M. Allen, 1911; 79, Vespertilio pipistrellus Schreber, 1774; 80, Vespertilio platycephalus Temminck, 1832; 81, Vesperugo pulcher Dobson, 1875; 82, Vesperugo pusillulus Peters, 1870; 83, Pipistrellus raceyi Bates et al., 2006; 84, Eptesicus rectitragus Wettstein, 1916; 85, Vesperugo (Vesperus) rendalli Thomas, 1889; 86, Neoromicia robertsi Goodman et al., 2012; 87, Neoromicia roseveari Monadjem et al., 2013; 88, V[espertilio]. rueppelii J. Fischer, 1829; 89, Scotophilus rusticus Tomes, 1861; 90, Vespertilio savii Bonaparte, 1837; 91, Nycticejus schlieffenii Peters, 1859; 92, Pipistrellus rueppelli senegalensis Dorst, 1960; 93, †Nycticeinops serengetiensis Gunnell et al., 2015; 94, Pipistrellus simandouensis Monadjem et al., 2020; 95, Vespertilio minutus somalicus Thomas, 1901; 96, Vesperugo stampflii Jentink, 1888; 97, Neoromicia stanleyi Goodman et al., 2017; 98, Vesperus tenuipinnis Peters, 1872; 99, Eptesicus ugandae Hollister, 1916; 100, Neoromicia vansoni Roberts, 1932; 101, Pipistrellus vernayi Roberts, 1932; 102, Laephotis wintoni Thomas, 1901; 103, Scotoecus woodi Thomas, 1917; 104, Eptesicus zuluensis Roberts, 1924. Not mapped: [Pipistrellus Kuhli] latastei Laurent, 1937; Vespertilio pusillus LeConte, 1857; Vesperugo subtilis Sundevall, 1846.

Figure 3. Maximum likelihood phylogeny of mitochondrial cytochrome b sequences of Vespertilionidae: (A) Pipistrellus, Scotoecus, Vansonia, and outgroups (B) Afronycteris, Pseudoromicia, Nycticeinops, and Hypsugo (C) Laephotis and Neoromicia. The phylogeny was inferred in IQ-TREE, and its topology was similar to the Bayesian phylogeny calculated in MRBAYES. Filled red circles on nodes denote bootstrap (BS) values ≥ 70% and Bayesian posterior probabilities (PP) ≥ 0.95. Open circles outlined in black indicate BS ≥ 70% and PP <0.95, and open circles outlined in red indicate BS <70% and PP> 0.95. Support values for most minor clades are not shown. Specimen localities include counties for Kenya. DRC refers to Democratic Republic of the Congo and CAR to Central African Republic. Museum acronyms are defined in the Material and Methods section. Sequences downloaded from GenBank are indicated by inclusion of GenBank accession numbers (Supporting Information, Table S1). Branch colours indicate individual species/clade membership.

Figure 8. A, portrait of Laephotis kirinyaga (FMNH 234558), showing bright brown upper parts and off-white under parts, with bicoloured hairs. The skin around the eye is blackish in the holotype, but distinctly pinkish in most of the paratypes. B, portrait of Pseudoromicia nyanza (FMNH 215626), showing the distinctive white wings and under parts of this species.

Figure 10. Plate showing the cranium and mandible of Pseudoromicia nyanza (FMNH 215626). Scale bar = 5 mm.