Pipistrellus (Vansonia) crassulus Koopman (1994)

Torrent, Laura, Juste, Javier, Garin, Inazio, Aihartza, Joxerra, Dalton, Desiré L., Mamba, Mnqobi, Tanshi, Iroro, Powell, Luke L., Padidar, Sara, Mudarra, Juan Luis Garcia, Richards, Leigh & Monadjem, Ara, 2025, Taxonomic revision of African pipistrelle-like bats with a new species from the West Congolean rainforest, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 204 (2) : -

Pipistrellus (Vansonia) crassulus Koopman (1994)

Parahypsugo crassulus Huterer et al. (2019a)

Nycticeinops crassulus Monadjem et al. (2021a)

Material examined

EBD 13937 M, male, Mainland Equatorial Guinea, collected by Javier Juste on 24 September 1985 ; EBD 17653 M, female, Mainland Equatorial Guinea, collected by Javier Juste on 26 February 1988 ; EBD 17743 M, female, Mainland Equatorial Guinea, collected by Javier Juste on 25 May 1988 ; EBD 34810 M, female, and EBD 34811 M, male, Mainland Equatorial Guinea, collected by Laura Torrent, Inazio Garin, Joxerra Aihartza, Anton Ayong Nguema and Esther Abeme Nguema Alene on 15 May 2022 ; ENMNH EQ013 female from Hormigas Camp , Bioko Island, collected by Ara Monadjem, Iroro Tanshi and Mnqobi Mamba 15 January 2024 ; and ENMNH EQ023 female, from Mainland Equatorial Guinea, collected by Ara Monadjem, Laura Torrent and Mnqobi Mamba on 23 January 2024 .

Description and remarks

Afopipistrellus crassulus is distinguished from Af. bellieri from West Africa by molecular and morphological characters. It is, on average, smaller and with a more flatened skull than bellieri ( Fig. 3). Sagital and lambdoid crests are litle developed in Af. crassulus , whereas in Af. bellieri they form a weak occipital helmet. In Af. crassulus , P 2 is minute and displaced lingually, barely visible above the gum, whereas in Af. bellieri it is larger and more visible. Moreover, P 4 and C 1 are usually in contact in Af. crassulus but separated in Af. bellieri . Te baculum of Af. crassulus is longer with a narrow tip, and the base is divided into two lobes by a deep cleavage, while in Af. bellieri the tip is inflated and the base is rounded (Supporting Information, Figs S2, S 3) ( Heller et al. 1994, Bates et al. 2013, Huterer et al. 2019a, Moratelli et al. 2019).

While Af. bellieri is only known from West African rainforests ( Guinea, Liberia, and Ivory Coast) ( Monadjem et al. 2013, 2016, Decher et al. 2015), Af. crassulus is known from a wider diversity of habitats (rainforests, swamps, montane and coastal forests to savannas) from Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo ( DRC), Nigeria, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, and Angola ( Bates et al. 2013, Fahr 2013, Huterer et al. 2019 a,Tanshi et al. 2021) (Supporting Information, Fig.S4A).