Scotophilus livingstonii Brooks & Bickham, 2014

Decher, Jan, Norris, Ryan W., Abedi-Lartey, Michael, Oppong, James, Hutterer, Rainer, Weinbrenner, Martin, Koch, Martin, Podsiadlowski, Lars & Kilpatrick, C. William, 2021, A survey of small mammals in the Volta Region of Ghana with comments on zoogeography and conservation, Zoosystema 43 (14), pp. 253-281 : 271

Scotophilus livingstonii Brooks & Bickham, 2014

Scotophilus livingstonii Brooks & Bickham, 2014: 11 .

COMMON NAME. — Livingstone’s House Bat.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Agumatsa (Wli Waterfall) • 1 ♀; SMF 92137; caught on 11.VIII.2001 .

REMARK

Originally identified as Scotophilus dinganii (A. Smith, 1833) due to its bright yellow ventral side side and its forearm length of 57.8 mm, the West African form, which also occurs in western Kenya, has been recently renamed S. livingstonii based on phylogenetic and morphological distinct S. dinganii -like clades ( Brooks & Bickham 2014). Our specimen was caught in a net set across the Agumatsa River flanked by secondary forest and nearby small cassava fields. Other Ghana-Togo Highlands specimens are known from Odomi Jongo, 12 Miles E Nkwanta in Ghana (USNM 424888) and from Atakpamé and Ezimé in Togo ( Robbins 1980; Robbins et al. 1985). The species was also caught at three locations on the Accra Plains ( Decher 1997a and USNM, as S. dinganii ) and seems to be most commonly associated with Guinea savanna, forest savanna mosaic, and high forest edge. Records from Côte d’Ivoire are all from the northern tree savanna ( Fahr 1996, as S. dinganii ). This species also seems to adapt to rooftops and thatched huts for its roosts.

CONSERVATION STATUS. — The conservation classification of S. livingstonii on the IUCN Red List is “Least Concern”.