Rhinolophus smithersi P. J. Taylor et al. 2012
Creators: name: Burgin, Connor
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Chiroptera
Rhinolophidae
Rhinolophus
Rhinolophus smithersi

description: 20. Smithers’s Horseshoe <b>Bat</b> <i>Rhinolophus smithersi</i> French: <i>Rhinolophe</i> de Smithers / <b>German:</b> Smithers-Hufeisennase / <b>Spanish:</b> Herradura <i>de</i> Smithers <b>Taxonomy.</b> <i>Rhinolophus smithersi</i> P. J. Taylor <i>et al,</i> 2012, “ Ngolangola Gorge at confluence with Lutope River, Sebungwe District, Gokwe Communal Land, NW Zimbabwe; 18° 17’05”S; 28° 05’ 00”E; elevation 1000 m asl.” <i>Rhinolophus smithersi</i> is in the <i>fumigatus</i> species group, with specimens previously included in <i>R hildebrandtii,</i> although recent genetic and morphological studies justified its specific status. <i>Rhinolophus smithersi</i> is in a clade including <i>R hildebrandtii, R mabuensis,</i> and <i>R cohenae.</i> Monotypic. <b>Distribution.</b> Known only in NW Zimbabwe (Lutope-Ngolangola Gorge S of Zambezi Escarpment) and NE South Africa (Limpopo <i>Province</i>). Specific status ofsimilarly looking populations throughout the rest of southern Africa (Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Botswana) has not been assessed, and additional sampling is needed. <b>Descriptive notes.</b> Head-body 73-81 mm, tail 35—37 mm, ear 32-35 mm, hindfoot 13- 15 mm, forearm 61-65 mm; weight 23-31 g. Smithers’s Horseshoe <b>Bat</b> is very similar to Hildebrandt’s Horseshoe Bat (A <i>hildebrandtii</i> <i>),</i> although it is distincdy smaller. Dorsal pelage is gray to grayish brown; venter is slighdy paler. There is no orange morph. Males lack axillary tufts. Ears are medium-long in length. Noseleaf has long subtriangular lancet, with straight or slighdy concave sides and rounded dp; connecting process is rounded and does <i>not</i> reach tip of sella; sella is moderately covered in longish hairs and has concave sides near base <i>but</i> parallel sides near broad and rounded top; and horseshoe is broad at 10-14 mm, covers muzzle, has lateral leaflets, and has deeply notched median emargination. Lower lip has one groove. <i>Wings</i> and uropatagium are dark grayish brown. Skull is robust and comparatively long, with robust zygomatic arches and zygomatic width much larger than mastoid width; nasal swellings are relatively high and longer than they are broad; frontal depression is <i>weakly</i> developed; and sagittal crest is well developed. Dental formula is 11/2, C 1/1, P 2/2, M 3/3 (x2) = 30; a lower premolar is apparently always absent. P2 is tiny and fully displaced <i>labially</i>, allowing <i>C</i> 1 and P4 to touch or almost touch, and P3 is <i>absent</i>, allowing P and P4 to touch. Chromosomal complement has 2n = 58 and FN = 60. Habitat. Miombo savanna on Karoo sandstone, dominated by <i>Brachystegia glaucescens</i> (Fabaceae) and baobabs <i>(Adansonia digitata,</i> Malvaceae), where much of landscape has been converted to cotton fields in Zimbabwe. In South Africa, Smithers’s Horseshoe Bats can be found in diverse riparian woodland fringes along rivers. <b>Food and</b> Feeding. Smithers’s Horseshoe Bat is insectivorous. It forages using perchhunting and slow hawking in or around dense vegetation and close to the ground. Fecal pellets primarily contained beetles and moths, but some flies were also found. Breeding. Litter size <i>of</i> Smithers’s Horseshoe Bat is one. Activity <b>patterns.</b> Smithers’s Horseshoe Bats are nocturnal, foraging throughout the night with short periods of rest in night roosts. Day roosts have not been found, but <i>they</i> are suspected to use sandstone <i>cliff</i> caves and hollowed out baobabs when available. Call shape is <b>FM</b> /CF/ <b>FM</b>, with F <i>component</i> of 44 46 kHz in Zimbabwe and South Africa. <b>Movements, Home range and Social</b> organization. Smithers’s Horseshoe <b>Bat</b> probably roosts in clusters, not touching one another. <b>Status and</b> Conservation. Classified as Near Threatened on <i>The IUCN</i> ed <i>List.</i> Despite having a relatively wide distribution, Smithers’s Horseshoe Bat is <i>currently</i> known from few individuals and might be threatened by mining, <i>habitat</i> destruction, and climate change. <b>Bibliography.</b> ACR (2018), Cotterill &amp; Happold (2013c), Kaipf et al. (2015), Kearney <i>et al.</i> (2017), Stuart (2015), Taylor (2017), Taylor et <i>al.</i> (2012).
description: Published as part of <i>Burgin, Connor, 2019, Rhinolophidae, pp. 280-332 in Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 9 Bats, Barcelona :Lynx Edicions</i> on page 290, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3748525