Casinycteris ophiodon (Pohle, 1943)

Mongombe, Aaron Manga, Fils, Eric Moise Bakwo & Tamesse, Joseph Lebel, 2020, Annotated checklist of bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) of Mount Cameroon, southwestern Cameroon, Zoosystema 42 (24), pp. 483-514 : 488

Casinycteris ophiodon (Pohle, 1943)

Scotonycteris ophiodon Pohle, 1943: 78 .

COMMON NAMES. — English: Campo-Ma’an Fruit Bat. French: Casinyctère de Campo-Ma’an.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — 4 specimens.

Mount Cameroon area • 1♀, 1♂; Malende swamp area; 4°21’00”N, 9°26’00”E; 50 m; 13.XII.1957; Martin Eisentraut leg.; SMNS 6626, ZFMK 1961.0636 • 1♂; Mueli; 4°23’00”N, 9°07’00”E; 600 m; 6.II.1958; Martin Eisentraut leg.; SMNS 6627 .

Other localities of Cameroon • 1♂; Bipindi ; 3°05’00”N, 10°25’00”E; 184 m; Zenker Georg August leg.; ZMB 50001 .

ORIGINAL DATA. — We did not record this species during our field surveys.

HABITATS AND DISTRIBUTION. — Bergmans (1990) cited this species to occur in the lowland forest of Mount Cameroon. This species has recently been transferred from the genus Scotonycteris to Casinycteris based on molecular analyses conducted by Hassanin (2014). Casinycteris ophiodon is primarily a forest obligate that has been recorded from both tropical lowland and montane forest of West and Central Africa, where it roosts singly in dense vegetation. Being a primary forest specialist it is threatened by the fragmentation and degradation of its forest habitats, and their conversion to agriculture use ( Fahr 2013a; as Scotonycteris ophiodon ).