Vespertilio laniger Peters, 1871

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 : 59

Vespertilio laniger Peters, 1871

Peters, W. C. H. (1871) In Swinhoe, R.: Catalogue of the mammals of China (south of the River Yangtse) and of the Island of Formosa. Proceedings of the zoological Society of London, 1871 [for 1870]: 617 [615–653]; London. Bats submitted to W. Peters, who supplied names and descriptions of n.sp.

Valid name: Myotis laniger ( Peters, 1871)

Lectotype (designated by Pohle 1943: 323; erroneously considered as holotype by Topal 1997): ZMB 4146, skin and skull (probably extracted before 1943 by Pohle), female; Amoy (= Xiamen, Fujian), China; collected by Swinhoe, July 1867, donated by Swinhoe between 20 March and 14 April 1870.

Comment: Peters described Vespertilio laniger on the basis of a complete specimen out of a series of three specimens, which fits the form of the specimen ZMB 4146. Dobson (1878: 299) identified a skin in the BMNH as a “ type ”. Pohle (1943: 321) suggested the skin (“c”) in the BMNH that was collected by Swinhoe and listed by Dobson (1878: 299) as “ type ” because its data was identical to that of specimens sent by the collector to Peters, had no nomenclaturial status, since it was possible it was purchased from Swinhoe after Peters had described the species. The third specimen probably remained in the private collection of Swinhoe and its whereabouts are unknown.