Rhinolophus rhodesiae Roberts 1946
Creators: name: Burgin, Connor
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Chiroptera
Rhinolophidae
Rhinolophus
Rhinolophus rhodesiae

description: 11. Roberts’s Horseshoe <b>Bat</b> <i>Rhinolophus rhodesiae</i> French: Rhinolophe de Rhodésie / <b>German:</b> Roberts-Hufeisennase / <b>Spanish:</b> Herradura de <i>Rodesia</i> Taxonomy. <i>Rhinolophus swinnyi rhodesiae</i> Roberts, 1946, “ Bezwe River, tributary of <i>Wanetsi</i> [= <i>Nwanetsi</i>] River, Southern Rhodesia [= Zimbabwe]. ” <i>Rhinolophus rhodesiae</i> is often included in <i>R swinnyi,</i> but recent genetic and morphometric analysis has determined that <i>it</i> is a distinct species. <i>Rhinolophus rhodesiae</i> is in the <i>capensis</i> species group and seems to be closely related to <i>R simulator, R gorongosae,</i> and one specimen of <i>R landeri</i> from Liberia. There is considerable genetic and echolocation variation throughout its distribution. <i>Monotypic</i>. <b>Distribution. E</b> &amp; S Africa in E Tanzania (including Unguja I in Zanzibar Archipelago), SW &amp; SE DR Congo, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and E South Africa (N Limpopo and S KwaZulu-Natal <i>provinces</i>); possibly also Swaziland, <b>but</b> these records have <i>yet</i> to be confirmed and might <i>represent Swinny’s</i> Horseshoe Bat (A <i>swinnyi</i> <i>).</i> Descriptive <b>notes.</b> Head—body <i>c</i>. 44-65 mm, tail 16—30 mm, ear 15—20 mm, hindfoot 8 9 mm, forearm 40-44 mm; <i>weight</i> 4-5-8- 3 g. Roberts’s Horseshoe Bat is externally very similar to <i>Swinny’s</i> Horseshoe Bat. Pelage of Roberts’s Horseshoe <b>Bat</b> is soft and fluffy, being pale gray to pale brown dorsally (hairs with pale cream bases) and paler ventrally, <i>occasionally</i> being off-white or cream. Dorsal pelage can also be bright orange in orange morph. Males lack axillary tufts. Ears are short (33—36% offorearm length). Noseleafhas subtriangular lancet, with concave sides and bluntly pointed tip; <i>connecting</i> process is rounded; sella is naked, with slightly concave sides; narial lobes at base of sella are comparatively low; and horseshoe is narrow (width 6-2-8- 1 mm) and does not cover entire muzzle, does <i>not</i> have <i>any</i> lateral leaflets, and has deeply notched median emargination. Roberts’s Horseshoe <b>Bat</b> can be differentiated from <i>Swinny’s</i> Horseshoe <b>Bat</b> by its less concave hastate lancet and less erect and low rounded connecting process. Lower lip has three grooves, with lateral grooves being <i>occasionally</i> indistinct. <i>Wings</i> and uropatagium are brown. Roberts’s Horseshoe Bat has distinctly longer and tapered baculum than <i>Swinny’s</i> Horseshoe <b>Bat</b>, with conspicuously broader base and shallow notch along lower part of shaft that is visible in lateral view. Skull is delicately built, with thin zygomatic arches; nasal swellings are rounded; frontal depression is very shallow and sometimes nearly flat; supraorbital ridges are weak; and sagittal crest is absent posteriorly and very low anteriorly, being <i>weakly</i> developed. P2 is small <i>but</i> in tooth row, C1 and P4 are well separated as a <i>result</i>, and P is tiny and completely displaced labially, allowing P2 and P4 to touch or nearly touch one another. <b>Habitat</b> Primarily savanna woodlands in lowland regions and montane and submontane rainforests at higher elevations. Roberts’s Horseshoe <b>Bat</b> is found at <i>c</i>. 1350 m in the Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania, and c. 1642 m on Ntchisi Mountain in Malawi, where it can also be found in the adjacent open canopy miombo woodlands ofNtchisi Forest Reserve. <b>Food and Feeding.</b> Roberts’s Horseshoe <b>Bat</b> probably forages by slow hawking and <i>possibly</i> gleaning. During wet season in Zambia, stomach samples of 23 bats had moths (55% of volume), beetles (26%), termites (6%), and various other insects, including flies, midges, crickets, and bugs. During <i>dry</i> season, stomach samples <i>of</i> nine bats included moths (56%), midges (43%), and flies (1%). Breeding. Lactating and heavily pregnant Roberts’s Horseshoe Bats were recorded in <i>early</i> November (<i>wet</i> season) in Malawi, and a female had a single embryo in November in central Zimbabwe. Litter size is one. <b>Activity patterns.</b> Roberts’s Horseshoe Bats are nocturnal. <b>Day</b> roosts are <b>found</b> primarily in caves and old mine shafts where <b>they</b> hang from ceilings. Call shape is FM/ CF/FM, and peak F component is 99—102 kHz in Malashane Cave, Mozambique, 102 <b>—</b> 104 kHz in Malawi <b>(</b> call durations of 37 <b>-</b> 74 milliseconds <b>),</b> 100 kHz in Soutpansberg, South Africa, and 107 <b>—</b> 112 kHz in Zimbabwe, although the record from Zimbabwe might not represent Roberts’s Horseshoe Bat because it is so different from typical frequencies recorded in other regions. <b>Movements, Home range and Social organization.</b> Roosts of Roberts’s Horseshoe Bats have been found with <b>1-</b> 5 individuals, roosting alone or in pairs. Some roosts have been recorded with over 100 individuals in <i>south-western</i> Zambia, southern DR Congo <b>(</b> Katanga <b>),</b> and Unguja Island. They have been recorded roosting with the Bushveld Horseshoe Bat <b>(</b> R. simulator <b>)</b> in Zimbabwe. <b>Status and Conservation.</b> Not assessed on <i>The</i> IUCN <i>ed List.</i> Habitat loss seems to be the largest threat to Roberts’s Horseshoe Bat, although <b>it</b> is widespread and <i>relatively</i> common throughout its distribution. <b>Bibliography.</b> ACR (2018), <i>Ansell</i> (1967, 1969), <i>Cotterill</i> (1996a, 2013e), Csorba et <i>al.</i> (2003), enton &amp; <i>Bell</i> (1981), Mutumi et al. (2016), Taylor, Macdonald et <i>al.</i> (2018), Whitaker &amp; Black (1976).
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 pages 285-286, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3748525