African Bat Conservation News Has Not Had a Permanent Home on the World Wide Web
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Volume 9 African Bat Conservation July 2006 News ISSN 1812-1268 Inside this issue: Notes from the Editor 1 Research & Conservation 2 Bat Research in Swaziland 2 Scientific Contributions 3 - 12 Photographic record of a Mauritian Tomb 3 - 4 bat Taphozous mauritianus E. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1818 (Emballonuridae) from Mogale City (Gauteng, South Africa). The first observation of Myozopoda sp. 5 - 6 (Myozopodidae) roosting in western Madagascar Longevity and movement of the Common 7 Slit-faced bat Nycteris thebaica Bat survey in Montagne des Français, 8 - 12 Antsiranana, northern Madagascar (6 April - 14 December 2005) © ECJ Seamark & TC Kearney 2006 Recent Literature 13 Above: Adult female Angolan free-tailed bat (Mops condylurus (A. Smith 1833)) caught at Mlawula Notice Board 14 Nature Reserve, Swaziland, 4 February 2006. Download sites for ABCN: Notes from the Editor: For two years African Bat Conservation News has not had a permanent home on the world wide web. www.Africanbats.org Valerie Craig and the flying fur website have been kind enough to support the http://flyingfur.typepad.com/abcn/abcn.html newsletter, and we hope that this will continue into the future, especially as a back- up. Things are about to change with the registration of the domain name Africanbats.org and the establishment of a website (still under construction when going to press) that will allow individuals to subscribe/unsubscribe to ABCN. The website will also be used to facilitate access to tools and resources relating to African bats (e.g. interactive identification keys and species distribution maps presented as downloadable shape files with associated information on voucher specimens used in the plotting of the distribution). Software tools will be used to record various statistics on the use of the website, to gauge the impact of ABCN around the world. From correspondence it would appear many of the users and readers of ABCN are not from Africa, and work on bats elsewhere in the world. If this is the case alternative means, other than the world wide web, might be investigated for the disseminate of African bat related resources and tools within African. It is encouraging that two organizations involved with research on bats in Africa (All Out and Durban Natural Science Museum) have endorsed the newsletter (see new logos above under the newsletter name). The All Out Africa Research Unit, based in Swaziland and working under the guidance of Dr Ara Monadjem (University of Swaziland) uses volunteers to assist with research activities in Swaziland (see Research & Conservation article on pg 2) and Mozambique. At the Durban Natural Science Museum, the Mammalogist, Dr Peter Taylor, has many and varied bat research interests, most recently working with Dr Steve Goodman on Malagasy-African free-tailed bats and co-supervising eight related masters projects, and with Dr Paul Bates (Harrison Institute) setting up an Asian-African bat taxonomy network. Dr Taylor has also authored a book on South African bats, and was involved in the establishment of the first bat group in South Africa (Durban Bat Interest Group now called Bats KZN). It is hoped that short articles and reports on the activities of these organizations will become a regular feature in the newsletter. The views and opinions expressed in articles are not necessarily those of the editor or publisher. Articles and news items appearing in African Bat Conservation News may be reprinted, provided the author’s and newsletter reference are given. Page 2 July 2006 vol. 9 African Bat Conservation News ISSN 1812-1268 RESEARCH AND CONSERVATION BATS RESEARCH IN SWAZILAND By: April Reside, All Out Africa Research Unit, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Swaziland, Private Bag 4, Kwaluseni, Swaziland. E-mail: [email protected] . Bats have been a main focus of Ara Monadjem’s research team in conjunction with the conservation organisation All Out (www.all- out.org). The projects include ongoing work on the Common Slit-faced Bat (Nycteris thebaica), a community study and collecting echolocation call Above: View into Mlawula Nature Reserve. recordings for a bat call library. The Nycteris work is in two Above: April Reside parts, firstly looking at This library will be used to recruitment, survival and roost identify calls detected from free- fidelity of individuals in a population that inhabits road culverts flying individuals so that non- in and around Mlawula Nature Reserve (see “Research on invasive bat surveys can be survival and movements of the Common Slit-faced bat conducted. (Nycteris thebaica) in north-eastern Swaziland” ABCN 1). This Such a survey would be used in work has been ongoing for 8 years and some interesting conjunction with the current patterns of sex differences in recapture has emerged. The netting studies, and be other Nycteris work is a behavioural study looking at home especially useful for detecting range, day- and night-roost use and foraging with the use of the presence and activity levels radio telemetry. Eleven individuals have been radio tracked of high flying species that are over a period of six months. Roosts have included warthog rarely caught under the canopy. burrows, artificial structures and caves. Most individuals For species with constant appear loyal to a small foraging area, but may use a number of Above: Grant Daniels, one of the frequency calls both hand-held roosts. volunteers from All Out. and release calls have been The community study is examining the importance of taken, while only release calls riparian areas for bat activity, by comparing riparian sites to have been taken for individuals the neighbouring savanna. Ground nets, canopy nets and a with frequency-modulated calls. harp trap are set for half-nights in a standard design. The The work has been conducted riparian sites have greater species richness and greater levels with international volunteers of bat activity than the savanna. Most noticeably, one species from All Out Projects. In addition of fruit bat (suborder Megachiroptera) Wahlberg’s Epauletted to the volunteers, All Out Fruit Bat (Epomophorus wahlbergi), is frequently encountered Projects also provide logistical in the riparian sites but rarely in the savanna. There also and financial support to the seems to be a seasonal difference in bat activity, with the research. The bat work is summer and autumn months ongoing and we welcome any showing greater levels of interested parties to join us in activity than those of winter and the field here in Swaziland. spring. This is also true of Above: Common Slit-faced bat invertebrate activity, though (Nycteris thebaica). based only on the bycatch in the nets! Echolocation calls have been collected using an Anabat Above: Ara Monadjem detector to create a call library. Page 3 July 2006 vol. 9 African Bat Conservation News ISSN 1812-1268 SCIENTIFIC CONTRIBUTIONS African Bat Conservation News publishes brief notes concerning the biology of bats, new geographical distributions (preferably at least 100 km from the nearest previously published record), sparsely annotated species lists resulting from local surveys including roost counts and echolocation and sonograms of bat species occurring on the African continent and adjacent regions, including the Arabian peninsula, Madagascar, and other surrounding islands in the Indian and Atlantic oceans. PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORD OF A MAURITIAN TOMB BAT TAPHOZOUS MAURITIANUS E. GEOFFROY SAINT-HILAIRE, 1818 (EMBALLONURIDAE) FROM MOGALE CITY (GAUTENG, SOUTH AFRICA) By: Stephan Du Toit, Environmental Law & Auditing, Mogale City Local Municipality, P.O. Box 94, Krugersdorp, 1740, South Africa: Email: [email protected]. Keywords: Taphozous mauritianus, distribution, Gauteng, grassland biome. A sheath tailed bat (Emballonuridae Gervais, 1856) never before observed this species in the area. (Figures 1 and 2) was caught by the author at Coronation Park Three species of Sheath tailed bats (Emballonuridae) are office complex, Mogale City (previously known as known to occur within the southern African subregion Krugersdorp), Gauteng, South Africa (S26.10527; E27.78169 (TAYLOR 2000, SKINNER and CHIMIMBA 2005): the African (WGS84)), on 8 December 2005 at 09h25. The individual was sheath-tailed bat, Coleura afra (Peters, 1852); the Mauritian found roosting against the wall under the roof overlay (see tomb bat, Taphozous mauritianus E. Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire, Figure 3). The individual was a very agile climber, moving 1818; and the Egyptian tomb bat, T. perforatus E. Geoffroy rapidly along the face brick walls before it was caught. After Saint-Hilaire, 1818). The individual caught was identified as being caught the individual was photographed and then the Mauritian tomb bat (T. mauritianus), as it had a pure white released at the same place it was caught. Unfortunately, the belly (Figure 2) and off white wing membranes (Figures 1 and sex and external measurements (e.g. forearm length and 2). Whereas, the Egyptian tomb bat (T. perforatus) has under mass) of the individual were not recorded. When released the parts that “…are lighter than the upper parts, the throat and bat flew off in an easterly direction towards a dense stand of neck brown, the remainder light brown washed with ashy-grey, Blue Gum trees (Eucalyptus sp.) about 80 m away, at which with some white hairs on the lower belly” (SKINNER and point the author lost sight of it. The author has worked in the CHIMIMBA 2005) and “..outer two-thirds of the wing Krugersdorp / Magaliesburg area since August 1994 and has membranes are white, the inner third blackish” (SKINNER and © S. Du Toit, 2005 © S. Du Toit, 2005 Figure 1: Dorsal surface view of a Mauritian tomb bat (T. mauritianus) Figure 2: White belly that distinguished this individual as a Mauritian found at an office complex in Mogale City, Gauteng, South Africa tomb bat (T. mauritianus) . (S26.10527; E27.78169, showing the off white wing membranes. Page 4 July 2006 vol. 9 African Bat Conservation News ISSN 1812-1268 CHIMIMBA 2005).