After innumerable failed attempts, hantavirus RNA was detected by RT-PCR in ethanol-fixed liver tissues from two of 12 banana pipistrelles (Neoromicia nanus Peters 1852), captured during June 2011 near Mouyassué village (5°22'07"N, 3°05'37"W) in Aboisso District, 130 km from Abidjan, in the extreme southeastern region of Côte d'Ivoire in West Africa ( Figure 1 ). The taxonomic identity of the hantavirus-infected vesper bats was confirmed by phylogenetic analysis of the cytochrome b gene of mtDNA (GenBank JQ287717), amplified by PCR as previously described [8, 9] . Despite similarly exhaustive efforts, hantavirus RNA was not detected in any of the other bat species tested (Table 1) , including frozen liver tissue of six tiny pipistrelles (Pipistrellus nanulus), collected in Parc National du Mont Péko, 700 km northwest of Mouyassué, in February 1992, and ethanol-fixed liver tissue of three tiny pipistrelles, collected in December 2009 in Azagny, where a hantavirus was previously found in the West African pygmy shrew (Crocidura obscurior) [8] .