317.

Lesser Woolly Bat

Kerivoula lanosa

French: Kérivoule laineuse / German: Kleinere Wollfledermaus / Spanish: Querivoula lanudo pequeno

Taxonomy. Vespertilio lanosus A. Smith, 1847,

322 km east of Cape Town, Cape Province, South Africa.

Subspecies of K. lanosus have been in flux, and some authors have concluded that variation is clinal. Additional taxonomic research is needed. Four subspecies recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution. K.l.lanosaA.Smith,1847—WesternCapeandEasternCapeprovinces,SouthAfrica.

K.l.harrisoniThomas,1901—scatteredinEthiopia,Kenya,andTanzania.

K.IluciaHinton,1920—scatteredinSCAfrica,includingSDRCongo,Zambia,Malawi,Mozambique,Botswana,andZimbabweStoSwazilandandESouthAfrica(KwaZulu-Natal).

K. l. muscilla Thomas, 1906 — Guinea and Liberia E to Ghana, and scattered in Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Central African Republic, and E DR Congo.

Descriptive notes. Head-body ¢. 44-48 mm, tail 30-42 mm, ear 10-14 mm, hindfoot 5-8 mm, forearm 30-34 mm; weight 4-5- 8 g. Sexes are similar. Pelage is fine, woolly, and frizzled, with many hairs having hooked tips. Pelage extends onto dorsal surface of forearm and tibia. Dorsal pelage is dark sepia-brown, golden brown, grayish brown, or pale gray. Dorsal hairs have dark brown bases, with pale brown, cream, silvery, or white tips, giving frosted appearance. Mid-dorsal hairs are 6-7 mm. Ventral pelage is similar or paler, sometimes whitish at least on chest and belly. Basal one-half of ventral hairs are dark brown, medium grayish brown, or gray, and some tips are white. Wings and uropatagium are semi-translucent and pale gray to pale brown. Dorsal surface of proximal one-half of uropatagium is sparsely covered with hair. Posterior margin has comb-like fringe of bristle-like hairs curved inward. Ears are short, funnel-shaped, widely separated with pointed tips, semi-translucent, and pale brown. Tragus is long (62-74% of ear length), narrow, and tapers to sharp point, with posterior margin and shallow notch below widest point and tip with few short hairs. Eyes are minute. Thumb is long and slender. Skull is small (greatest skull lengths 11-2-13- 5 mm); braincase is high-domed; rostrum is narrow; and frontal region is sharply angular to plane as in other Kerivoula . I? is long, pointed, and unicuspid or bicuspid; I is minute, in general unicuspid, but sometimes bicuspid; P* and P* are subequal in length and smaller than P% and I, has main cusp and cup-shaped cingulum, giving bicuspid or tricuspid appearance. Chromosomal complement has 2n = 28 and FNa = 50, with large metacentric X-chromosome and small acrocentric Y-chromosome (South Africa).

Habitat. Wide variety of habitats including rainforests (West Africa); Acacia (Fabaceae) — Commiphora (Burseraceae) bushland (Ethiopia and Kenya); bamboo clumps (Malawi); and evergreen forests, riverine forests, and wetter and drier woodland savannas, often associated with riverine habitats (southern Africa).

Food and Feeding. No information.

Breeding. One female and two young Lesser Woolly Bats, suggesting twins, were found in a weaver (Ploceus spp.) nest in southern Africa.

Activity patterns. Wings of Lesser Woolly Bats are broad, and flight is slow and highly maneuverable based on morphology. Frosted pelage provides camouflage when roosting; woolly texture might provide extra insulation from unfavorable temperatures when roosting in foliage. Day roosts are hard to find. Lesser Woolly Bats apparently use woven grass nests of weavers as roosts but also nests made of cobwebs by sunbirds ( Nectariniidae). Echolocation calls of a male from Mberengwa, south-central Zimbabwe, were steep linear FM in shape; start-frequency was at least 170 kHz, end frequency was 100 kHz, and intensity was very low. Calls are similar to congeners, suggesting that Lesser Woolly Bats forage by gleaning.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. Ectoparasites include the bat flies Basilia meridionalis and B. kerivoulae ( Nycteribiidae).

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red Lust.

Bibliography. Cotterill (2013q), Happold (1987), Koopman (1994), Pienaar (1964), Rautenbach et al. (1993), Yalden et al. (1996).