Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from Royal Ontario Museum http://archive.org/details/secondthirdknownOOpete *tet& niAi Olijy ^A/o -,. *CT< ^ .$&<"* 9 I, Ri X A A i , lIVL Life Sciences Occasional Papers Royal Ontario Museum May 25, 1970 No. 16 3 1761 05162578 8 The Second and Third Known Specimens of the African Molossid Bat, Tadarida lobata by R. L. Peterson1 and David L. Harrison- Oldfield Thomas (1891a) described Nycti- nomus lobatus on the basis of a single specimen from Turkwell, Suk, in northwest- ern Kenya. The original description was brief and published as a preliminary diag- nosis as follows: "Allied to and of the same size as N. taenio- tis, Raf. (N. Cestoni, Savi), but distin- guished by its much larger ears, tragus and antitragus, by the thinness of the ear-mem- branes and keel, and by its belly being pure white. Forearm 63 millim. Hab. Turquel, Suk, inland British East Africa. Coll. F. J. Jackson, Esq." In a subsequent publication, Thomas (1891b) provided a more detailed descrip- tion with some external measurements and a line drawing of the ventral aspect of the head featuring an oudine of the ears. The skull was still in situ in the sketch, and no description of it appears beyond an indica- tion of the number of lower incisors present. The holotype, British Museum (Natural History) 93.2.3.7, has been the only known specimen heretofore. It is a spirit specimen with the skull now extracted and appears to be a male, although there is no evidence of scrotal development. During a recent examination of the molos- sid bats in the David L. Harrison Collection, one specimen (DLH 5.4244 c5 ) from Hat- field, Salisbury, Rhodesia, collected on 15 1. Department of Mammalogy, Royal Ontario Museum. 2. Sevenoaks, Kent, England. July 1964, proved to be the second known example of Tadarida lobata and provided the first dry skin to give an indication of the normal coloration of the species. The specimen was compared directly with the holotype in the British Museum (Natural History). Details of the latter and those of this second specimen have been combined to portray the facial and ear characteristics of this species (Fig. 1). The strikingly large ears, arising well for- ward on its rostrum a short distance from the nostrils, have the leading edges extend- ing well beyond the nose when laid forward. The skin has a conspicuous mid-dorsal white spot in the shoulder region (Fig. 2), and the wings and uropatagium are all pale translu- cent, greyish in colour. The ears are some- what darker but also translucent. The pe- lage of the dorsum is bicoloured, the base white, and the terminal tips approaching Cinnamon-Brown (Ridgway, 1912). The Cinnamon-Brown coloured fur extends around the neck onto the throat and extends posteriorly to the groin as two lateral bands. The mid-ventrum from the chest to the base of the tail region is a unicoloured Warm Buff. This same colour extends from the anal region on each side of the body and onto the wing membranes from the legs to the forearms. The white central shoulder spot may be an individual variant of no taxonomic signi- ficance. The holotype has a faint light area in the same region, but the long immersion in alcohol makes it difficult to ascertain if the white spot is characteristic of the species. a&> *ik!j \m ■TO M .; ' WTO 1 > — JT #| m Figure 1 Facial and ear features of Tadarida lobata based on the holotype and DLH 5.4244 3 . X Figure 2 Dorsal and ventral aspects of the skin of T. lobata (DLH 5.4244 5). \ Figure 3 Skull of T. lobata (DLH 5.4244c? ), X 2. The uropatugium and wings are indeed translucent in the holotype, and the ears appear even more translucent than that of the dried skin (DLH 5.4244 S ); however, some fading and clearing of the skin may have resulted from long immersion in spirits. The large tragus in T. lobata is truncate distally, with a narrow band of hairs extend- ing across its anterior surface near the tip. The large antitragus is more or less bilobate, with a low anterior lobe and a more elevated posterior lobe. On the inner surface of each ear a conspicuous band of hairs extends laterally to the apex from about 5 mm be- hind the leading edge of the highly developed keel. From the apex a fringe of hairs extends along the margin of the ear to near the bend of the tip of the tragus. According to Thomas (1891b), the length of ear from notch of the holotype was 30 mm, which agrees closely with our estimate of the second specimen. Other external measure- ments of DLH 5.4244 $ , followed in paren- theses by those of the holotype, are: Total length, 134 (133); tail, 53 (56); hindfoot, 12 (13); tibia, 19.5 (19.5); forearm, 58 (63); third digit — metacarpal, 59.4 (64.0); first phalanx, 24.3 (25.7); second phalanx, 23.4 (25.1); fourth digit — metacarpal, 57.0 (61.8); first phalanx, 19.8 (21.6); second phalanx, 9.1 (10.0); fifth digit— metacar- pal, 35.8 (39.3); first phalanx, 16.2 (17.5); second phalanx, 6.9 (7.5); weight, 20 grams (— )■ More recently, Mr. John Edwards Hill of the British Museum (Natural History) has identified a third specimen of Tadarida lo- bata and kindly provided us with details to include here. The specimen is also an adult male and was collected by Miss J-J. S. Murrell while on the Oxford University Ex- pedition to the Cherangani Hills, Kenya, in 1969, original collector's number 329. The specimen was collected at Kaibibich (ap- proximately riO'N., 35°22'E.), Cheran- gani Hills, Kenya, on 7 August 1969. It is preserved in alcohol and the skull has been removed and prepared by Mr. Hill. The forearm measured 60.1 mm. Measurements (in mm) of the skulls of DLH 5.4244 c? and the Cherangani Hills specimen, followed in parentheses by those of the holotype, are: Greatest length, 22.7, 24.2 (24±); condylobasal length, 21.9, 23.0 (23.4); palatal length, including incisors, 9.8, — (10.5); palatal length from anterior notch, 7.7, — (8.4); zygomatic breadth, 13. 2±, 14.2 (14.2); mastoid breadth, 12.4, 13.2 (13.2); breadth of braincase, 11.6, 1 1 .4 (11.6); rostrum breadth, across lachry- mal processes, 7.6, — (8.1); interorbital breadth, from the front below the lachrymal processes, 7.4 — (7.6); height of braincase, 7.3,— (— );M:MVI3, 8.8, 9.1 (8.8);C-M;i, 8.8, 9.4 (9.1); upper C-C, 5.6, 5.6 (5.6); postorbital (supraorbital) process, 5.6, — (6.0); postorbital constriction, 4.9, 5.0 (5.0); greatest length of mandible, 16.4, 16.8 (17.1); C-M3, 9.7, 10.4(10.1). The skull of T. lobata (Fig. 3) is charac- terized by a relatively broad braincase and an elongate and relatively narrow rostrum and palate. It is generally similar to that of T. teniotis but has two instead of three pairs of lower incisors. Moreover, the anterior palatal notch of T. lobata is relatively deeper and narrower, and the anterior nasal aper- ture extends farther posteriorly along the dorsal margin of the skull. In lateral profile the nasals are tipped up from a depression above the orbits. The lower incisors of T. lobata are more closely appressed (touching in the holotype; a small space between in DLH 5.4244 6 ) than in T. teniotis. In other features T. lobata is intermediate between T. teniotis and the T. africana-mastersoni- fulminans complex as originally suggested by Thomas (1891b), although neither jul- minans nor mastersoni had been described at that date. The basisphenoid pits (Fig. 4) are slightly smaller and more defined than in T. teniotis but not as deep and without the steep sided margins of the pits, particularly anteriorly, of the T. ajricana-mastersoni- fubninans group. With the latter group, T. lobata shows similar dental characteristics u± Figure 4 Upper last molar and postpalatal region of the skull showing details of the basisphenoid pits of T. lobata (DLH 5.4244 $). (particularly the numbers of lower incisors and position of lower canines and the de- velopment of the third commissure on M3), and has similar anterior and posterior palatal shapes. In general size and shape, the skull of T. lobata is more similar to T. ful- minans of Madagascar than to any known related form in Africa, but differs from this species by having a relatively wider brain- case and a relatively narrower rostrum (lachrymal breadth and sublachrymal in- terorbital breadth) and palate (M3-M3). In these characters T. lobata differs even more strongly from T. africana and topotypical material of T. mastersoni. In external features T. lobata is readily distinguished from T. teniotis by its ears and pelage coloration. In general size and colora- tion it resembles T. mastersoni, with which it occurs sympatrically. However, the ears of T. lobata are distinctly larger and arise much farther forward on the rostrum, and the upper lips appear to be more wrinkled. There is a greater amount of whitish (Warm Buff as opposed to white or orange) colora- tion on the under surface, and the ears and the wings and interfemoral membranes are paler and more translucent. The pelage of the second specimen of T. lobata suggests that its dorsal coloration may be distinctive; it is Cinnamon-Brown as opposed to either dark brown or reddish as in known examples of the closely related T. africana, T. jitl- minans and T. mastersoni. A detailed review of this later species complex is in progress (Peterson, R. L. Mss.). Acknowledgments — We are grateful to the British Museum (Natural History), par- ticularly to Mr. John Edward Hill, for per- mission to study and photograph the holo- type of T. lobata and related material, as well as for extending considerable co-opera- tion, including making available to us the data on the third known specimen dis- covered by him. We wish to acknowledge the continued assistance of Mr. Reay. H. N. Smithers. Director of Museums, National Museums of Rhodesia, for providing this important specimen and for aid in our re- search for additional specimens. Financial assistance was provided by the Canadian National Sportsmen's Show, the National Research Council of Canada, the Pure and Applied Science Committee of the Univer- sity of Toronto through the Department of Zoology, and by funds from the Royal On- tario Museum. Mr. Paul Geraghty prepared Fig. 1, Mrs. Sophia Poray prepared Fig. 4, and Mr. Lee Warren took the photographs used in Fig. 2. Dr. J. R. Tamsitt kindly pro- vided editorial assistance. Summary — A specimen of Tadarida lobata (Family Molossidae) from Salisbury, Rho- desia, in the David L. Harrison Collection and one recently taken on the Oxford Uni- versity Expedition to the Cherangani Hills, Kenya, 1 969, represent the second and third known examples of this species, originally described in 1891 from Turkwell, Suk, northwestern Kenya. The species is illus- trated, and its pelage colour described for the first time. Photographs of the skin and skull are provided. Comparative measure- ments and discussion of taxonomic charac- teristics and systematic relationships are included. Literature Cited Ridgway, Robert 1912 Color standards and color nomenclature. Privately published, Washington, D.C., pp. 1-44, 53 pis. Thomas Oldfield 1891a Preliminary diagnosis of four new mammals from East Africa. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. 7, 6th ser., pp. 303-304. 1891b On a collection of small mammals made by Mr. F. J. Jackson in eastern Africa. Proc. Zool. Soc. London for the year 1891, pp. 181-187. Suggested citation: Life Sci. Occ. Pap., R. Ont. Mus. All manuscripts considered for publication are subject to the scrutiny and editorial policies of the Life Sciences Editorial Board and to review by persons outside the Museum staff who are authorities in the particular field involved. price: 50>'