Pied bat

The pied bat (Niumbaha superba), or badger bat, is a rare species of vesper bat in the family Vespertilionidae.[2] If recognised as a valid genus, Niumbaha contains only this species.[3] The distinctive pied bat partly resembles a bee, with light yellow stripes and blotches on its body, the stripes being primarily on its back. Biology professor DeeAnn Reeder, one of the authors of the genus Niumbaha, said, "its cranial characters, its wing characters, its size, the ears – literally everything you look at doesn't fit. It's so unique that we need to create a new genus."[4] However, despite appearances, more recent work shows that superba is deeply embedded within Glauconycteris and should be returned to that genus, making Niumbaha a junior synonym of Glauconycteris.[5]

Pied bat
(Niumbaha superba)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Chiroptera
Family: Vespertilionidae
Genus: Niumbaha
Reeder, Helgen, Vodzak, Lunde & Ejotre, 2013
Species:
N. superba
Binomial name
Niumbaha superba
(Hayman, 1939)
Synonyms
  • Glauconycteris superba
    Hayman, 1939
  • Chalinolobus superbus
    (Hayman, 1939)

Taxonomy

First discovered in 1939 in Belgian Congo, the species was, at that time, placed in the genus Glauconycteris under the name Glauconycteris superba. Following a 2013 capture in South Sudan, only the fifth recorded capture of the species, the pied bat was relocated to an entirely new genus, Niumbaha, named after the Zande word for "rare".[6][3] However, recognition of Niumbaha renders Glauconycteris paraphyletic and it is incorrect to treat Niumbaha as a valid genus without further splitting of Glauconycteris.

Geographic range

It is found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Ghana and South Sudan.[3]

Habitat

Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.

Conservation status

It is threatened by habitat loss.

References
  1. Monadjem, A., Cotterill, F., Jacobs, D., Taylor, P.J. & Fahr, J. 2017. Glauconycteris superba. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017: e.T44799A22069930. Downloaded on 22 September 2017.
  2. Simmons, N.B. (2005). "Order Chiroptera". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 487. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  3. Reeder, D.; Helgen, K. M.; Vodzak, M.; Lunde, D.; Ejotre, I. (2013). "A new genus for a rare African vespertilionid bat: Insights from South Sudan". ZooKeys. 285 (285): 89–115. doi:10.3897/zookeys.285.4892. PMC 3690973. PMID 23805046.
  4. "Striped like a badger: New genus of bat identified in South Sudan". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 2018-08-02.
  5. "Multilocus phylogeny and species delimitation within the genus Glauconycteris (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae), with the description of a new bat species from the Tshopo Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo". Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research. Retrieved 2020-10-28.
  6. Platt, J. R. (2013-04-11). "Beautiful Striped Bat Identified as Entirely New Genus". Scientific American blogs. Scientific American. Archived from the original on 2013-04-18. Retrieved 2014-06-06. External link in |work= (help)
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