<i> Pipistrellus nanulus</i> Thomas, 1904 Fig. 47 A–B<i> *</i><i> P... more <i> Pipistrellus nanulus</i> Thomas, 1904 Fig. 47 A–B<i> *</i><i> Pipistrellus nanulus</i> Thomas, 1904: 198. Hayman<i> et al.</i> (1966: map 75) plotted one specimen from Avakubi, which is actually the same specimen they plotted as "<i> Pipistrellus musciculus</i> " (see above). One additional record is from from Mosenge in Kwilu Province. The map given by Van Cakenberghe &amp; Happold (2013f: 639) shows that<i> P. nanulus</i> primarily occurs in the savannas of Sudan and Guinea, the northern rainforest-savanna mosaic in West Africa (from Guinea to Togo and from southern Nigeria to Gabon, and from north-central Benin to central Nigeria) and in the eastern rainforest-savanna mosaic in northeastern DRC, Uganda and western Kenya. Based on additional material mentioned in ACR (2016: 1276), our distribution map covers a more continuous area from Senegal to western Kenya, with a small gap at the Dahomey Gap in western Africa. The map also shows that it could occur over almost the entire northern half of the DRC, with the exception of the central part.
Fig. 1. Capture localities for all bats. The symbols represent: yellow (H): records included in H... more Fig. 1. Capture localities for all bats. The symbols represent: yellow (H): records included in Hayman et al. (1966), and brown (V): newly added records. Other coloured pins represent type specimens: red (H): holotype, blue (P): paratype or paralectotype (for further details, see text).
AimComprehensive, global information on species' occurrences is an essential biodiversity var... more AimComprehensive, global information on species' occurrences is an essential biodiversity variable and central to a range of applications in ecology, evolution, biogeography and conservation. Expert range maps often represent a species' only available distributional information and play an increasing role in conservation assessments and macroecology. We provide global range maps for the native ranges of all extant mammal species harmonised to the taxonomy of the Mammal Diversity Database (MDD) mobilised from two sources, the Handbook of the Mammals of the World (HMW) and the Illustrated Checklist of the Mammals of the World (CMW).LocationGlobal.TaxonAll extant mammal species.MethodsRange maps were digitally interpreted, georeferenced, error‐checked and subsequently taxonomically aligned between the HMW (6253 species), the CMW (6431 species) and the MDD taxonomies (6362 species).ResultsRange maps can be evaluated and visualised in an online map browser at Map of Life (mol.org...
Assessing how bats respond to habitat attributes requires an integrative approach to reliably pre... more Assessing how bats respond to habitat attributes requires an integrative approach to reliably predict direct community‐level effects. We focused on hipposiderid and pteropodid bats because of their diverse resource use patterns, body size ranges, and dispersal abilities. We combined an array of bat species‐level characteristics with key forest stand characteristics that may covary with habitat use. Twelve stations were sampled in the Lomami and Yangambi landscapes, Democratic Republic of the Congo. We investigated whether species‐level flight ability of bats and forest stand characteristics can affect bat commuting flights and community‐level estimates of both species detection and habitat occupancy. We captured bats for 108 trap‐nights. Three sampling events (early evening, middle of the night, and early morning) were replicated for each survey night. Hipposiderids showed an early evening flight peak, while flight activity of pteropodids was constant throughout the night, but incre...
Bats exhibit a variety of life‐history traits that can serve as valuable surrogate metrics of ter... more Bats exhibit a variety of life‐history traits that can serve as valuable surrogate metrics of terrestrial ecosystem health. Here, we investigate how sonotype activity of hipposiderid bats covaries with habitat structure at finer spatial scales. We recorded passive echolocation calls and measured key habitat attributes in six rainforests in the Lomami and Yangambi landscapes, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Using bat passes as a measure of sonotype activity, we clustered echolocation calls based on call structure similarity to control for within‐sonotype variation in activity. Over 432 h of recording, we detected 370 passes matching a hipposiderid sonotype in three subgroups, recovering eight potential species. Open habitats negatively affected sonotype activity in the Hipposideros subgroup, which was associated with higher echolocation frequencies. Indeed, activity peaked in the early evening when mean post‐sunset temperature was above the nocturnal average and declined until earl...
Many tropical biosphere reserves face the problem of overexploiting biological resources, which i... more Many tropical biosphere reserves face the problem of overexploiting biological resources, which is a major cause of biodiversity loss. We used an integrative approach, combining camera trapping and bat trapping in diverse habitats over multiple surveys in Yangambi Biosphere Reserve, Democratic Republic of the Congo. We investigated whether species-level traits of volant and nonvolant mammals, as well as key features of their habitats, can predict effects on species detectability and occupancy, and thus on community-level species richness. We applied single-season occupancy models using multi-species data for camera trap and bat trap datasets. We found a positive effect of denser woodlands on occupancy estimates over 6480 camera-days. Average adult body weight and whether species were group-living negatively influenced species detection estimates. Species richness and body size assemblages approximated marginal rainforest diversity. This included small-bodied, generally high-hunting-...
Abiotic factors are usually considered key drivers of species distribution at macro scales, while... more Abiotic factors are usually considered key drivers of species distribution at macro scales, while biotic interactions are mostly used at local scales. A few studies have explored the role of biotic interactions at macro scales, but all considered a limited number of species and obligate interactions. We examine the role of biotic interactions in large‐scale SDMs by testing two main hypotheses: (1) biotic factors in SDMs can have an important role at continental scale; (2) the inclusion of biotic factors in large‐scale SDMs is important also for generalist species. We used a maximum entropy algorithm to model the distribution of 177 bat species in Africa calibrating two SDMs for each species: one considering only abiotic variables (noBIO‐SDMs) and the other (BIO‐SDMs) including also biotic variables (trophic resource richness). We focused the interpretation of our results on variable importance and response curves. For each species, we also compared the potential distribution measuri...
""The systematics of African members of the genus Scotophilus has been confused and at ... more ""The systematics of African members of the genus Scotophilus has been confused and at times controversial. Apart from size and pelage color, they do not show many non-mensural differences. Multivariate statistical analyses are used with seven cranial and one wing measurement on over 2000 specimens. Six species are recognized. Two species, S. nux and S. nucella, are restricted to the high forest zone in West and Central Africa. The other four species, S. dinganii,, S. leucogaster, S. nigrita., and S. viridis, occur throughout sub-Saharan Africa in the savanna vegetation zones. African mainland distribution of the genus is from Senegal and Mauritania in the west to Ethiopia and Somalia in the east, and throughout Central Africa to southern Africa.""
In 1966, Robert William Hayman, Xavier Misonne and Walter Verheyen published their listing of the... more In 1966, Robert William Hayman, Xavier Misonne and Walter Verheyen published their listing of the Congolese, Rwandan and Burundian bat specimens in the collections in the museums of Tervuren, Brussels, Geneva, London and New York. In the fifty years that have passed since, some major changes have been introduced in the taxonomy of the Chiroptera: new species have been discovered, species have been split off, species have been moved to other genera, and additional material has been collected. We re-evaluated the data presented by Hayman et al., and supplemented this with specimen records found in the literature and in online catalogs. This resulted in 136 species, represented by 20 231 specimens (compared to 113 species and 8567 specimens originally). When available, we also recorded additional information such as locality, sex and age, collector, collection date and preservation type of the voucher specimen. The distribution maps of the Congolese taxa are revised to represent the cu...
Casinycteris campomaanensis Hassanin, 2014 Campo-Ma'an Fruit Bat (Eng.) Casinyctère de Campo-... more Casinycteris campomaanensis Hassanin, 2014 Campo-Ma'an Fruit Bat (Eng.) Casinyctère de Campo-Manan (Fr.) HASSANIN (2014) distinguished Casinycteris campomaanensis from the three other species within the tribe Scotonycterini by its body size, craniodental characteristics and molecular analysis. The molecular analyses based on the complete mitochondrial cytochrome b gene indicate that C. campomaanensis is the sister-group to C. argynnis Thomas, 1910 and C. ophiodon (Pohle, 1943) [see below account for further information]. The specific epithet refers to the Campo-Ma'an area, where the holotype was collected. Casinycteris ophiodon (Pohle, 1943) – revised status POHLE (1943) originally described Scotonycteris ophiodon from Bipindi, Cameroon, placing this new species in the genus Scotonycteris Matschie, 1894. Using molecular analysis based on the complete mitochondrial cytochrome b gene, HASSNIN (2014) showed that the holotype of S. ophiodon Pohle, 1943 is more closely related to...
<i> Pipistrellus nanulus</i> Thomas, 1904 Fig. 47 A–B<i> *</i><i> P... more <i> Pipistrellus nanulus</i> Thomas, 1904 Fig. 47 A–B<i> *</i><i> Pipistrellus nanulus</i> Thomas, 1904: 198. Hayman<i> et al.</i> (1966: map 75) plotted one specimen from Avakubi, which is actually the same specimen they plotted as "<i> Pipistrellus musciculus</i> " (see above). One additional record is from from Mosenge in Kwilu Province. The map given by Van Cakenberghe &amp; Happold (2013f: 639) shows that<i> P. nanulus</i> primarily occurs in the savannas of Sudan and Guinea, the northern rainforest-savanna mosaic in West Africa (from Guinea to Togo and from southern Nigeria to Gabon, and from north-central Benin to central Nigeria) and in the eastern rainforest-savanna mosaic in northeastern DRC, Uganda and western Kenya. Based on additional material mentioned in ACR (2016: 1276), our distribution map covers a more continuous area from Senegal to western Kenya, with a small gap at the Dahomey Gap in western Africa. The map also shows that it could occur over almost the entire northern half of the DRC, with the exception of the central part.
Fig. 1. Capture localities for all bats. The symbols represent: yellow (H): records included in H... more Fig. 1. Capture localities for all bats. The symbols represent: yellow (H): records included in Hayman et al. (1966), and brown (V): newly added records. Other coloured pins represent type specimens: red (H): holotype, blue (P): paratype or paralectotype (for further details, see text).
AimComprehensive, global information on species' occurrences is an essential biodiversity var... more AimComprehensive, global information on species' occurrences is an essential biodiversity variable and central to a range of applications in ecology, evolution, biogeography and conservation. Expert range maps often represent a species' only available distributional information and play an increasing role in conservation assessments and macroecology. We provide global range maps for the native ranges of all extant mammal species harmonised to the taxonomy of the Mammal Diversity Database (MDD) mobilised from two sources, the Handbook of the Mammals of the World (HMW) and the Illustrated Checklist of the Mammals of the World (CMW).LocationGlobal.TaxonAll extant mammal species.MethodsRange maps were digitally interpreted, georeferenced, error‐checked and subsequently taxonomically aligned between the HMW (6253 species), the CMW (6431 species) and the MDD taxonomies (6362 species).ResultsRange maps can be evaluated and visualised in an online map browser at Map of Life (mol.org...
Assessing how bats respond to habitat attributes requires an integrative approach to reliably pre... more Assessing how bats respond to habitat attributes requires an integrative approach to reliably predict direct community‐level effects. We focused on hipposiderid and pteropodid bats because of their diverse resource use patterns, body size ranges, and dispersal abilities. We combined an array of bat species‐level characteristics with key forest stand characteristics that may covary with habitat use. Twelve stations were sampled in the Lomami and Yangambi landscapes, Democratic Republic of the Congo. We investigated whether species‐level flight ability of bats and forest stand characteristics can affect bat commuting flights and community‐level estimates of both species detection and habitat occupancy. We captured bats for 108 trap‐nights. Three sampling events (early evening, middle of the night, and early morning) were replicated for each survey night. Hipposiderids showed an early evening flight peak, while flight activity of pteropodids was constant throughout the night, but incre...
Bats exhibit a variety of life‐history traits that can serve as valuable surrogate metrics of ter... more Bats exhibit a variety of life‐history traits that can serve as valuable surrogate metrics of terrestrial ecosystem health. Here, we investigate how sonotype activity of hipposiderid bats covaries with habitat structure at finer spatial scales. We recorded passive echolocation calls and measured key habitat attributes in six rainforests in the Lomami and Yangambi landscapes, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Using bat passes as a measure of sonotype activity, we clustered echolocation calls based on call structure similarity to control for within‐sonotype variation in activity. Over 432 h of recording, we detected 370 passes matching a hipposiderid sonotype in three subgroups, recovering eight potential species. Open habitats negatively affected sonotype activity in the Hipposideros subgroup, which was associated with higher echolocation frequencies. Indeed, activity peaked in the early evening when mean post‐sunset temperature was above the nocturnal average and declined until earl...
Many tropical biosphere reserves face the problem of overexploiting biological resources, which i... more Many tropical biosphere reserves face the problem of overexploiting biological resources, which is a major cause of biodiversity loss. We used an integrative approach, combining camera trapping and bat trapping in diverse habitats over multiple surveys in Yangambi Biosphere Reserve, Democratic Republic of the Congo. We investigated whether species-level traits of volant and nonvolant mammals, as well as key features of their habitats, can predict effects on species detectability and occupancy, and thus on community-level species richness. We applied single-season occupancy models using multi-species data for camera trap and bat trap datasets. We found a positive effect of denser woodlands on occupancy estimates over 6480 camera-days. Average adult body weight and whether species were group-living negatively influenced species detection estimates. Species richness and body size assemblages approximated marginal rainforest diversity. This included small-bodied, generally high-hunting-...
Abiotic factors are usually considered key drivers of species distribution at macro scales, while... more Abiotic factors are usually considered key drivers of species distribution at macro scales, while biotic interactions are mostly used at local scales. A few studies have explored the role of biotic interactions at macro scales, but all considered a limited number of species and obligate interactions. We examine the role of biotic interactions in large‐scale SDMs by testing two main hypotheses: (1) biotic factors in SDMs can have an important role at continental scale; (2) the inclusion of biotic factors in large‐scale SDMs is important also for generalist species. We used a maximum entropy algorithm to model the distribution of 177 bat species in Africa calibrating two SDMs for each species: one considering only abiotic variables (noBIO‐SDMs) and the other (BIO‐SDMs) including also biotic variables (trophic resource richness). We focused the interpretation of our results on variable importance and response curves. For each species, we also compared the potential distribution measuri...
""The systematics of African members of the genus Scotophilus has been confused and at ... more ""The systematics of African members of the genus Scotophilus has been confused and at times controversial. Apart from size and pelage color, they do not show many non-mensural differences. Multivariate statistical analyses are used with seven cranial and one wing measurement on over 2000 specimens. Six species are recognized. Two species, S. nux and S. nucella, are restricted to the high forest zone in West and Central Africa. The other four species, S. dinganii,, S. leucogaster, S. nigrita., and S. viridis, occur throughout sub-Saharan Africa in the savanna vegetation zones. African mainland distribution of the genus is from Senegal and Mauritania in the west to Ethiopia and Somalia in the east, and throughout Central Africa to southern Africa.""
In 1966, Robert William Hayman, Xavier Misonne and Walter Verheyen published their listing of the... more In 1966, Robert William Hayman, Xavier Misonne and Walter Verheyen published their listing of the Congolese, Rwandan and Burundian bat specimens in the collections in the museums of Tervuren, Brussels, Geneva, London and New York. In the fifty years that have passed since, some major changes have been introduced in the taxonomy of the Chiroptera: new species have been discovered, species have been split off, species have been moved to other genera, and additional material has been collected. We re-evaluated the data presented by Hayman et al., and supplemented this with specimen records found in the literature and in online catalogs. This resulted in 136 species, represented by 20 231 specimens (compared to 113 species and 8567 specimens originally). When available, we also recorded additional information such as locality, sex and age, collector, collection date and preservation type of the voucher specimen. The distribution maps of the Congolese taxa are revised to represent the cu...
Casinycteris campomaanensis Hassanin, 2014 Campo-Ma'an Fruit Bat (Eng.) Casinyctère de Campo-... more Casinycteris campomaanensis Hassanin, 2014 Campo-Ma'an Fruit Bat (Eng.) Casinyctère de Campo-Manan (Fr.) HASSANIN (2014) distinguished Casinycteris campomaanensis from the three other species within the tribe Scotonycterini by its body size, craniodental characteristics and molecular analysis. The molecular analyses based on the complete mitochondrial cytochrome b gene indicate that C. campomaanensis is the sister-group to C. argynnis Thomas, 1910 and C. ophiodon (Pohle, 1943) [see below account for further information]. The specific epithet refers to the Campo-Ma'an area, where the holotype was collected. Casinycteris ophiodon (Pohle, 1943) – revised status POHLE (1943) originally described Scotonycteris ophiodon from Bipindi, Cameroon, placing this new species in the genus Scotonycteris Matschie, 1894. Using molecular analysis based on the complete mitochondrial cytochrome b gene, HASSNIN (2014) showed that the holotype of S. ophiodon Pohle, 1943 is more closely related to...
The purpose of the African Chiroptera Report is to collate published information on, and collate ... more The purpose of the African Chiroptera Report is to collate published information on, and collate specimen records of, African bats. The advent of the internet provides an opportunity for large amounts of information to be easily and economically updated and accessible, which is particularly important for taxonomic information. The electronic, web-based nature of the information is intended to allow information on African bats to be corrected/updated more frequently than a printed format allows, and to be available to users in an affordable form that can be manipulated to their specific requirements. It is hoped this tool will facilitate research and conservation planning, and possibly stimulate interactions across different areas of research. The report is generated from data collated in the African Chiroptera Database and will hopefully grow and develop with the addition of new and corrected information. The incorporation of information other than taxonomic (see the various section headings in the description of the layout below), is still patchy in its execution across the taxa. Information that may answer specific requirements of a user, i.e. more information about the voucher specimens, or specimen collectors, has been drawn from across the database and is presented in separate appendices. Published identification keys for African bat species, have, where necessary, been updated to include current names, and are presented in appendix 5. In appendix 6 images of type specimens are included as they become available.
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Papers by Victor Van Cakenberghe
The incorporation of information other than taxonomic (see the various section headings in the description of the layout below), is still patchy in its execution across the taxa. Information that may answer specific requirements of a user, i.e. more information about the voucher specimens, or specimen collectors, has been drawn from across the database and is presented in separate appendices. Published identification keys for African bat species, have, where necessary, been updated to include current names, and are presented in appendix 5. In appendix 6 images of type specimens are included as they become available.