Vespertilio macuanus 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 : 60

Vespertilio macuanus Peters, 1852

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. 61.

Valid name: Nyctalus noctula (Schreber, 1774)

Holotype: ZMB 3041 , skin and skull, male; Peninsula Cabaceira, Mozambique; collected by W.H.C. Peters, between 1843 and 1847.

Comment: The occurrence of N. noctula has never been confirmed for tropical Africa, rendering the type locality very dubious (see Allen 1939: 92, and Simmons, 2005). The holotype agrees perfectly with Palaearctic representatives of this species and we assume an erroneous association with Peters’ Mozambique collection.