Emballonura afra Peters, 1852

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 : 23

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.1869.1.1
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5134017
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03E787D2-8910-FFB4-FF06-8904C01EF9F7
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Emballonura afra Peters, 1852
status

Treatment

Emballonura afra Peters, 1852 View in CoL

Peters, W.C.H. (1852) Naturwissenschaftliche Reise nach Mossambique, auf Befehl seiner Majestät des Königs Friedrich Wilhelm IV. in den Jahren 1842 bis 1848 ausgeführt. Berlin, p. 51.

Valid name: Coleura afra (Peters, 1852)

Syntypes: ZMB 571 View Materials (two specimens), bodies in alcohol, skulls extracted, male and female . ZMB 54845, body in alcohol, skull extracted (damaged) . ZMB 67559 – 67562 View Materials , bodies in alcohol, skulls extracted . ZMB 85667-85669 View Materials , skeletons . ZMB 429 View Materials and 430, catalogued as afra , presently missing. All specimens (with the exception of ZMB 67560 that is of unknown origin, see below) from Tete, Mozambique; collected by W.C.H. Peters, between 1843 and 1847 .

Comment: Peters described this species on the basis of several specimens but he designated no holotype. Of the available syntypes, ZMB 67560 stands out since it clearly differs from all other specimens of the type series. ZMB 67560 does not represent the genus Coleura [with one pair of upper incisors], but the genus Emballonura [two pairs of upper incisors], probably E. atrata from Madagascar. ZMB 67560 bears no original labels, yet it is to be assumed that the mixing of the species names afra and atrata occurred many years after the description whereupon the specimen ZMB 67560 was erroneously incorporated into the type series. ZMB 67560 has no status as a syntype. One further syntype is listed in Jentink (1888: 196) for RMNH, and on syntype is in BMNH (1907.1.1.703).