Bates's slit-faced bat

Bates's slit-faced bat
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Chiroptera
Family: Nycteridae
Genus: Nycteris
Species: N. arge
Binomial name
Nycteris arge
Thomas, 1903
Synonyms
  • Petalia arge Thomas, 1903

Bate's slit-faced bat (Nycteris arge) is a species of slit-faced bat frequently confused with Nycteris major. It is broadly distributed and common, living throughout many parts of Africa in forests and savannas.[1]

Taxonomy

It was described as a new species in 1903 by British zoologist Oldfield Thomas. The holotype had been collected from Cameroon by George Latimer Bates.[2]

Description

Bates's slit-faced bat, as the common name suggests, has a "deep median furrow" down its face. Its ears are large and rounded. Its dental formula is 2.1.1.33.1.2.3 for a total of 32 teeth.[3] It has a particularly large brain for an insectivorous bat species.[4]

Range and habitat

It is found throughout Central and West Africa, including Angola, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda. It is found in lowland areas.[1]

Conservation

As of 2017, it is evaluated as a least-concern species by the IUCN. It meets the criteria for this classification because it has a large geographic range; its population is presumably large; and it is not likely experiencing rapid population decline.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Monadjem, A.; Fahr, J.; Hutson, A.M.; Mickleburgh, S.; Bergmans, W. (2017). "Nycteris arge". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T14926A22016999. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-2.RLTS.T14926A22016999.en.
  2. ↑ Thomas, O. (1903). "LXVI.—Three new bats from the Cameroons, discovered by Mr. G.L. Bates". The Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 7. 12: 633–635.
  3. ↑ Thomas, N. M.; Harrison, D. L.; Bates, P. J. J. (1994). "A study of the baculum in the genus Nycteris. Mammalia, Chiroptera, Nycteridae)". Bonn. Zool. Beitr (45): 17–31.
  4. ↑ Pirlot, Paul; Stephan, Heinz (1970). "Encephalization in Chiroptera". Canadian Journal of Zoology. 48 (3): 433–444. doi:10.1139/z70-075.
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