Myonycteris torquata (Dobson 1878)

(Fig. 8, Table 3)

Cynonycteris torquata Dobson, 1878: 76.

COMMON NAMES. — English: Little Collared Fruit Bat. French: Petit Myonyctère.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — 19 Specimens (including original data).

Mount Cameroon area • 7 specimens; Mueli; 4°23’00”N, 9°07’00”E; 600 m; 7.II-16.II.1958; Martins Eisentraut leg.; ZFMK 1961.0621 to 0624, SMNS 6628, 6629; 6630 • 1 specimen; Victoria; 4°00’46”N, 9°13’13”E; 136 m; 15.XII.1968; Martin Eisentraut leg.; ZFMK 1969.0609 • 1 specimen; Isobi; 4°07’15”N, 8°59’33”E; 56 m; Martin Eisentraut leg.; SMNS 6631.

ORIGINAL DATA. — During our field surveys, 10 individuals (4 males and 6 females) were mistnetted (Table 1). Two females and two males were trapped by a fruiting fig tree at an altitude of 1140 m a.s.l, six other individuals were captured either by fruiting trees or in fallow farmlands. All individuals were captured in disturbed habitats at altitudes below 1290 m a.s.l. (Table 1). The little collared fruit bat had previously been recorded from Mount Cameroon by Eisentraut (1968).

HABITATS AND DISTRIBUTION. — This species has a wide distribution in Central Africa (Bakwo Fils & Kaleme 2016b). According to Bergmans (1997), this species is distributed in the low and medium altitude rainforest and the rain forest-savannah boundary where they roost singly or in small groups in trees.

REMARK. — Recent molecular analyses showed that Myonycteris torquata from the Upper Guinea Forest of West Africa are separate from those of the Congo Basin Forest. As such West Africa specimens formerly included in Myonycteris torquata are now placed in a distinct species, Myonycteris leptodon K. Andersen, 1908 (Nesi et al. 2013).