A dataset on African bats' functional traits

Trait-based approaches are becoming extremely common in ecological modeling and the availability of traits databases is increasing. However, data availability is often biased towards particular regions and taxa, with many taxa (e.g., bats) often under-represented. Here, we present the AfroBaT dataset, a compilation of trait data on 320 African bat species containing 76,914 values for 86 traits focusing on morphology, reproduction, life-history, trophic ecology, and species distributions. All data were gathered from published literature following the ecological trait-data standard procedure. Missing data for both numerical and categorical traits were imputed with a machine learning approach including species phylogeny. Trophic ecology traits showed the highest coverage in the literature (72% of the species averaged over all traits), while reproductive traits the lowest. Our data imputation improved the coverage of AfroBaT especially for reproductive traits, going from 27% to 58% of the species covered. AfroBaT has a range of potential applications in macroecology and community ecology, and the availability of open-access data on African bats will enable collaboration and data-sharing among researchers.

Climatic refugia and reduced extinction correlate with underdispersion in mammals and birds in Africa

Macroevolutionary patterns, often inferred from metrics of community relatedness, are often used to ascertain major evolutionary processes shaping communities. These patterns have been shown to be informative of biogeographic barriers, of habitat suitability and invasibility (especially with regard to environmental filtering), and of regions that function as evolutionary cradles (i.e., sources of diversification) or museums (i.e., regions of reduced extinction). Here, we analyzed continental datasets of mammal and bird distributions to identify primary drivers of community evolution on the African continent for mostly endothermic vertebrates. We find that underdispersion (i.e., relatively low phylogenetic diversity compared to species richness) closely correlates with specific ecoregions that have been identified as climatic refugia in the literature, regardless of whether these specific regions have been touted as cradles or museums. Using theoretical models of identical communities that differ only with respect to extinction rates, we find that even small suppressions of extinction rates can result in underdispersed communities, supporting the hypothesis that climatic stability can lead to underdispersion. We posit that large‐scale patterns of under‐ and overdispersion between regions of similar species richness are more reflective of a particular region’s extinction potential, and that the very nature of refugia can lead to underdispersion via the steady accumulation of species richness through diversification within the same ecoregion during climatic cycles. Thus, patterns of environmental filtering can be obfuscated by environments that coincide with biogeographic refugia, and considerations of regional biogeographic history are paramount for inferring macroevolutionary processes.

Lagos Bat Virus, an Under-Reported Rabies-Related Lyssavirus

Lagos bat virus (LBV), one of the 17 accepted viral species of the Lyssavirus genus, was the first rabies-related virus described in 1956. This virus is endemic to the African continent and is rarely encountered. There are currently four lineages, although the observed genetic diversity exceeds existing lyssavirus species demarcation criteria. Several exposures to rabid bats infected with LBV have been reported; however, no known human cases have been reported to date. This review provides the history of LBV and summarizes previous knowledge as well as new detections. Genetic diversity, pathogenesis and prevention are re-evaluated and discussed.

Small mammals of a West African hotspot, the Ziama-Wonegizi-Wologizi transfrontier forest landscape

The Upper Guinea rainforest zone in West Africa is considered a biodiversity hotspot and contains important habitats for threatened and endemic mammals, yet this region remains poorly known particularly for small mammals. The aim of this study was to survey small mammals in a Liberian and Guinean cross-border conservation area, the Ziama-Wonegizi-Wologizi landscape. We recorded a total of 52 small mammal species, including 26 bats, 15 rodents, 10 shrews, one otter-shrew, of which one rodent species was new to science (Colomys sp. nov.). We also documented the first country records of the bats Chaerephon aloysiisabaudiae, Pseudoromicia brunnea and Pipistrellus inexspectatus from Guinea, and the shrews Crocidura douceti and Crocidura grandiceps from Liberia. Furthermore, we recorded the recently described bat Nycticeinops happoldorum from Wologizi and Ziama, and we documented the presence of Micropotamogale lamottei at Wologizi, which represents the fourth known locality for this globally threatened species. Finally, the forests of Wologizi and Ziama support numerous threatened species. The results of our survey demonstrate the importance of this region for small mammals and support the creation of a transboundary protected area that will encompass the entire forest landscape.

A revision of pipistrelle-like bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) in East Africa with the description of new genera and species

Vespertilionidae (class Mammalia) constitutes the largest family of bats, with ~500 described species. Nonetheless, the systematic relationships within this family are poorly known, especially among the pipistrelle-like bats of the tribes Vespertilionini and Pipistrellini. Perhaps as a result of their drab pelage and lack of obvious morphological characters, the genus and species limits of pipistrelle-like bats remain poorly resolved, particularly in Africa, where more than one-fifth of all vesper bat species occur. Further exacerbating the problem is the accelerating description of new species within these groups. In this study, we attempt to resolve the systematic relationships among the pipistrelle-like bats of sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar and provide a more stable framework for future systematic efforts. Our systematic inferences are based on extensive genetic and morphological sampling of > 400 individuals covering all named genera and the majority of described African pipistrelle-like bat species, focusing on previously unstudied samples of East African bats. Our study corroborates previous work by identifying three African genera in Pipistrellini (Pipistrellus, Scotoecus and Vansonia), none of which is endemic to Africa. However, the situation is more complex in Vespertilionini. With broad taxonomic sampling, we confirm that the genus Neoromicia is paraphyletic, a situation that we resolve by assigning the species of Neoromicia to four genera. Neoromicia is here restricted to Neoromicia zuluensis and allied taxa. Some erstwhile Neoromicia species are transferred into an expanded Laephotis, which now includes both long-eared and short-eared forms. We also erect two new genera, one comprising a group of mostly forest-associated species (many of which have white wings) and the other for the genetically and morphologically unique banana bat. All four of these genera, as recognized here, are genetically distinct, have distinctive bacular morphologies and can be grouped by cranial morphometrics. We also demonstrate that the genus Nycticeinops, until now considered monospecific, includes both Afropipistrellus and the recently named Parahypsugo, thus representing the fifth African genus in Vespertilionini. A sixth genus, Hypsugo, is mostly extra-limital to sub-Saharan Africa. Finally, we describe three new species of pipistrelle-like bats from Kenya and Uganda, uncovered during the course of systematic bat surveys in the region. Such surveys are greatly needed across tropical Africa to uncover further bat diversity.