Multiple dimensions of biodiversity in paleotropical hotspots reveal comparable bat diversity

Abstract

Bat species commonly comprise at least 50% of tropical mammalian assemblages, but Afrotropical bat faunas have been little studied leading to perceptions that they are depauperate. Here, we compare alpha taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity of insectivorous bats belonging to the narrow-space foraging ensemble from a bat diversity hotspot in Nigeria to species-rich sites in Indonesia and Malaysia, using previously published data. The Nigerian site is protected unlogged forests at Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary and Cross River National Park. For comparison, we targeted similar

A review of bats of the genus Pseudoromicia (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) with the description of a new species

“…This phenomenon is further exemplified when considering recent systematic work focused on African pipistrelle-like bats, which has revealed high levels of cryptic diversity in the group (Hutterer et al, 2019;Monadjem, Demos, et al, 2021). The tropical African bat fauna currently is considered to contain fewer species than that of tropical regions of South America or Southeast Asia (Tanshi et al, 2022b). However, the accelerating rate of bat species discovery in Africa led Patterson et al (2021) to suggest that, far from the 224 species known to Happold and Happold (2013;Van Cakenberghe and Seamark, 2021, list 344 extant species), the actual number of bats on the African continent "will eventually exceed 400 species of bats".…”