Biodiversity Data Journal 7: e34754 doi: 10.3897/BDJ.7.e34754 Research Article New records of bats and terrestrial small mammals from the Seli River in Sierra Leone before the construction of a hydroelectric dam Natalie Weber‡, Ricarda Wistuba§§, Jonas J Astrin , Jan Decher§ ‡ Independent Research Consultant, Fuerth, Germany § ZFMK, Bonn, Germany Corresponding author: Natalie Weber (
[email protected]) Academic editor: Ricardo Moratelli Received: 21 Mar 2019 | Accepted: 23 May 2019 | Published: 18 Jun 2019 Citation: Weber N, Wistuba R, Astrin J, Decher J (2019) New records of bats and terrestrial small mammals from the Seli River in Sierra Leone before the construction of a hydroelectric dam. Biodiversity Data Journal 7: e34754. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.7.e34754 Abstract Sierra Leone is situated at the western edge of the Upper Guinean Forests in West Africa, a recognised biodiversity hotspot which is increasingly threatened by habitat degradation and loss through anthropogenic impacts. The small mammal fauna of Sierra Leone is poorly documented, although bats and rodents account for the majority of mammalian diversity. Based on morphological, genetic and echolocation data, we recorded 30 bat (Chiroptera), three shrew (Soricomorpha) and eleven rodent (Rodentia) species at the Seli River in the north of the country in 2014 and 2016, during a baseline study for the Bumbuna Phase II hydroelectric project. In 2016, 15 bat species were additionally documented at the western fringe of the Loma Mountains, a recently established national park and biodiversity offset for the Bumbuna Phase I dam. Three bat species were recorded for the first time in Sierra Leone, raising the total number for the country to 61.