Pseudoromicia nyanza, 2020

Monadjem, Ara, Demos, Terrence C, Dalton, Desire L, Webala, Paul W, Musila, Simon, Kerbis Peterhans, Julian C & Patterson, Bruce D, 2020, A revision of pipistrelle-like bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) in East Africa with the description of new genera and species, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society (Zool. J. Linn. Soc.) 190, pp. 1-33 : 23-24

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa087

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:71737F08-2938-4403-8385-5438B2E5EABE

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4451454

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/25458781-FFA4-E41D-5332-FAADFA44567C

treatment provided by

Admin

scientific name

Pseudoromicia nyanza
status

sp. nov.

PSEUDOROMICIA NYANZA MONADJEM, PATTERSON, WEBALA & DEMOS View in CoL SP. NOV.

NYANZA SEROTINE

LSID: http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:71737F08-2938-4403-8385-5438B2E5EABE

Neoromicia tenuipinnis Patterson & Webala (2012) View in CoL .

Neoromicia tenuipinnis Musila et al. (2019) View in CoL .

Neoromicia tenuipinnis Rydell et al. (2020) View in CoL .

Holotype: FMNH 215626 , field number BDP 5719. This specimen was collected on 8 January 2012 by Bruce D. Patterson, Paul W. Webala and Carl W. Dick. It is an adult male, formalin-fixed and preserved in ethanol. Its skull has been extracted and cleaned, its glans penis removed and the baculum stained and extracted. Muscle tissue was also preserved in liquid nitrogen at the time of capture. Type locality: Kisumu Impala Sanctuary, State Lodge Campsite, Kisumu County (formerly Nyanza province), Kenya, at an elevation of 1130 m above sea level; geographical coordinates: 0.10961°S, 34.74593°E ( Fig. 1 View Figure 1 ). The sanctuary borders both Lake Victoria and Kenya’s fifth largest city, Kisumu, and is only 0.34 km 2 in area. Vegetation consisted of open parkland, shortstatured trees and shrubs. GoogleMaps

Paratypes: Four other individuals ( FMNH 215625 , FMNH 215627 , FMNH 215628 and FMNH 215629 ), all females, were collected at the same location and on the same night as the holotype and closely resemble it genetically ( Fig. 3B View Figure 3 ) and morphologically ( Tables 5–7), qualifying them as paratypes .

Etymology: This species is named after the region where it was found, Nyanza, which derives from the Bantu word for ‘large body of water’. Covering nearly 60 000 km 2, Lake Victoria surely qualifies. The name is used as a noun in apposition.

Diagnosis: This is a medium-sized member of the genus Pseudoromicia , with a mean forearm length of 31.2 mm ( Table 5) and greatest skull length of 12.96 mm ( Table 6). It is genetically distinct from all other Pseudoromicia species ( Fig. 3B View Figure 3 ). Furthermore, it is readily distinguished from the dark-winged members of this genus ( Pse. roseveari , Pse. brunnea and Pse. kityoi ) by its white wings. It can be distinguished from Pse. rendalli by its smaller size (mostly non-overlapping forearm length and craniodental measurements ( Tables 5–7) and weakly bicuspid I 1 (unicuspid in Pse. rendalli ). It is significantly larger than Pse. tenuipinnis , with hardly any overlapping external and craniodental measurements ( Tables 5–7); furthermore, its dorsal fur is medium brown and bicoloured (dark brown and unicoloured in Pse. tenuipinnis ). It is most like Pse. isabella in size and external appearance, but that species has rusty tips to the fur on its upper parts, whereas Pse. nyanza has white-tipped hairs. The taxon Eptesicus ater J. A. Allen, 1917 , which was described from north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, is currently considered a synonym of Pse. tenuipinnis ( Simmons, 2005) and is far smaller than Pse. nyanza , with a reported total length of 68 mm. Furthermore, Pse. tenuipinnis has ‘brownish black’ fur on its back ( Allen et al., 1917), contrasting with the light-tipped fur of Pse. nyanza .

Description: External characters: Pseudoromicia nyanza is a medium-sized pipistrelle-like bat with white patagial and uropatagial membranes ( Fig. 8B View Figure 8 ). The dorsal pelage is medium brown with white-tipped hairs over most of the back. The ventral hairs are pure white with a dark base. The ears are short and rounded, and the tragus is broad and truncated, as in Pse. tenuipinnis ( Monadjem et al., 2013) .

Craniodental characters: The skull is relatively gracile, as in Pse. tenuipinnis and Pse. isabella . In lateral profile, the cranium slopes gently up from the rostrum to the top of the braincase. There is no occipital ‘helmet’, and the sagittal and lambdoidal crests are absent. The zygomatic arches are fragile, as in Pse. tenuipinnis and Pse. isabella ( Fig. 10 View Figure 10 ). The dentition in Pse. nyanza is typical of the genus, with I 2/3, C 1/1, P 1/3, M 2/3. In the upper tooth row, I 1 is weakly but distinctly bicuspid and I 2 is moderate in size, slightly more than half the length of I 1. The P 1 is absent, putting C in contact with P 2. The m 3 is myotodont sensu Van Cakenberghe & Happold (2013).

Biology: Judging by how frequently this species is captured, it is common west of the Rift Valley in Kenya (B. D. Patterson & P. W. Webala, personal observation). It seems to prefer forest-edge habitats and avoids the forest interior ( Rydell et al., 2020,

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Chiroptera

Family

Vespertilionidae

Genus

Pseudoromicia

Loc

Pseudoromicia nyanza

Monadjem, Ara, Demos, Terrence C, Dalton, Desire L, Webala, Paul W, Musila, Simon, Kerbis Peterhans, Julian C & Patterson, Bruce D 2020
2020
Loc

Neoromicia tenuipinnis

Rydell 2020
2020
Loc

Neoromicia tenuipinnis

Musila 2019
2019
Loc

Neoromicia tenuipinnis

Patterson & Webala 2012
2012
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