Sauromys petrophilus
Creators: name: Wilson, Don E.
name: Mittermeier, Russell A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Chiroptera
Molossidae
Sauromys
Sauromys petrophilus

description: 105. Roberts’s Flat-headed Bat <i>Sauromys petrophilus</i> <b>French:</b> Tadaride de Roberts / <b>German:</b> Roberts-Flachkopf-Bulldogfledermaus / Spanish: Sauromis de Roberts <b>Other common names:</b> Flat-headed Free-tailed Bat, Rock-dwelling Flat-headed Bat, Rock-loving Flat-headed Bat <b>Taxonomy.</b> Platymops (Sauromys) petrophilus Roberts, 1917, “Bleskop, near Rustenburg,” North West Province, South Africa. Although some authors, such as J. A. J. Meester and colleagues in 1986, have recognized up to five subspecies, these are not well defined geographically or morphologically and have not been recognized by recent authorities such as N. B. Simmons in 2005 or A. Monadjem and colleagues in 2010. The species is here considered monotypic, although the disjunct nature of the western and eastern populations, separated by 800 km, might lead to future genetic studies showing them to be distinct taxa. Monotypic. <b>Distribution.</b> Two geographically disjunct ranges, including arid parts of extreme SW Angola, W Namibia, and W South Africa S to Western Cape Province, and N Mozambique, E &amp; S Zimbabwe, extreme E Botswana, and N South Africa; an 800km-gap separates the two parts of the species’ range between Augrabies Falls on the Orange River in W South Africa and the Magaliesberg of North West and Gauteng provinces in N South Africa. <b>Descriptive notes.</b> Head-body c¢.60-82 mm, tail 29-49 mm, ear 13-22 mm, hindfoot 6-10 mm, forearm 37-50 mm; weight 6-22 g. Males are slightly smaller than females. Roberts’s Flat-headed Bat is distinguished by extremely flattened head and body, as in Platymops. Fur is soft and dense, and variable in color above, from dark brown, medium yellowish brown or grayish brown to dark gray or pale gray; dark grayish brown to pale gray to whitish below. Wings are long, narrow and blackish brown to semi-translucent grayish-brown. Upper lip is smooth and with few coarse bristles (not spoon-hairs). Ears are quite large and simple, lacking fold, inner margins separated by narrow gap. Tragus is very small, and antitragus is indistinct. Interaural crest and gular gland are absent. Anterior palatal emargination is wide, and basisphenoid pits are shallow but large. As in Mormopterus and Platymops, lacrimal ridges form distinct tubercle on each side of rostrum. M® has two ridges of equal length. P? is relatively large, reaching cingulum of P*. Dentdl formulas 11/2, C 1/1, P 2/2. M 3/5 (x2) = 30. Chromosomal complement in Namibia and South Africa has 2n = 48 and FNa = 62. <b>Habitat.</b> Dry woodland, mountain fynbos or arid scrub, associated with rocky areas. Elevational range up to 2000 m. <b>Food and Feeding.</b> Roberts’s Flat-headed Bat is adapted for foraging in open spaces, and has long, narrow wings, with high wing loading (11-2 N/m?) and intermediate aspect ratio (7-2). Based on fecal pellets from 51 individuals collected in the Cederberg of Western Cape Province, South Africa, the diet comprised mostly Diptera (38% by volume), Hemiptera (33%), Coleoptera (20%), and Hymenoptera (8%), with much smaller proportions (under 1%) of Lepidoptera, Trichoptera, and Neuroptera. <b>Breeding.</b> Pregnancy and lactations were recorded in the warm-wet season in mid-November in Zimbabwe, but not during the cool-dry season. <b>Activity patterns.</b> Roberts’s Flat-headed Bats have a specialized flat head and body for roosting in narrow crevices under exfoliated layers, and in fissures in granite cliffs. Echolocation calls have low frequency (peak frequency ¢.30 kHz), narrow bandwidth (c.14 kHz), and medium-long duration (c.5 milliseconds). <b>Movements, Home range and Social organization.</b> Roberts’s Flat-headed Bats roost communally in groups numbering usually up to four individuals. <b>Status and Conservation.</b> Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. <b>Bibliography.</b> ACR (2017), Cotterill (2013h), Crawford-Cabral (1989), Jacobs &amp; Fenton (2001, 2002), Meester et al. (1986), Monadjem, Jacobs, Cotterill, Hutson, Mickleburgh, Bergmans &amp; Griffin (2017), Monadjem, Taylor et al. (2010), Peterson (1965a), Rautenbach (1982), Schoeman (2006), Schoeman &amp; Jacobs (2003, 2008, 2011), Simmons (2005), Skinner &amp; Chimimba (2005).
description: Published as part of <i>Don E. Wilson &amp; Russell A. Mittermeier, 2019, Molossidae, pp. 598-672 in Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 9 Bats, Barcelona :Lynx Edicions</i> on page 664, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6418279