Chaerephon shortridgei Thomas 1926

Chaerephon shortridgei Thomas 1926, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1926: 289.

Type Locality: Namibia, NW Ovamboland, Ukualukasi, 3400 ft. (1100 m).

Vernacular Names: Shortridge's Free-tailed Bat.

Distribution: S Dem. Rep. Congo, Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia.

Conservation: IUCN 2003 – Not evaluated; not considered in IUCN / SSC Action Plan (2001).

Discussion: plicatus species group. Often considered a subspecies of chapini, but see Peterson et al. (1995), who treated these taxa as distinct species based on significant size differences and the large geographic gap apparently separating the southern populations ( shortridgei) from northern populations ( chapini). Fenton and Eger (2002) included shortridgei in chapini with no comment. Based on my own limited observations, I prefer to treat chapini and shortridgei as distinct species pending additional data.