Mops (Mops) niveiventer Cabrera & Ruxton, 1926

Fig. 29 A–B

Mops angolensis niveiventer Cabrera & Ruxton, 1926: 594 .

* Tadarida (Mops) chitauensis J. Eric Hill, 1937: 2–3 .

* Tadarida (Mops) niveiventer (Cabrera & Ruxton, 1926).

Aellen (1966: 71, map 98) reported six specimens from Elisabethville (= Lubumbashi) and Jadotville (= Likasi) in southeastern DRC. Hayman & Hill (1971: 60) considered chitauensis as a synonym of niveiventer, which was followed by Koopman (1975: 421), Freeman (1981: 160) and Simmons (2005: 443).

Hayman et al. (1966: 65) did not provide a separate map for this species, but probably included the specimen on the map for Tadarida (Mops) condylura (map 99). They reported the species from Astrida (= Butare, Rwanda), Samba (Maniema Province), a number of localities around Elisabethville (= Lubumbashi) and Jadoville (= Likasi) in Haut-Katanga Province, and from Luluabourg (= Kananga, Kasaï-Central Province). Additional records were found from Rwanda, Burundi, the area around Kananga and the area around Kikwit (Kwilu Province).

Cotterill (2013g: 526) mentioned that niveiventer is found in wetter savannas (miombo woodland). On his map, he marked an area covering southeastern DRC, western Zambia and extreme eastern Angola and a second area on the border between Zambia and northwestern Mozambique. Furthermore, he plotted a number of individual localities in Rwanda, the DRC, Zambia and Angola. Our map suggests a more uniform distribution from central Angola, the entire territory of Zambia and reaching the western part of Malawi, and a second area connecting the remaining DRC localities with those in Rwanda and Burundi.