Pied butterfly bat
| Pied bat (Niumbaha superba) | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Chiroptera |
| Family: | Vespertilionidae |
| Genus: | Niumbaha Reeder, Helgen, Vodzak, Lunde & Ejotre, 2013 |
| Species: | N. superba
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| Binomial name | |
| Niumbaha superba (Hayman, 1939)
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| Synonyms | |
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The pied bat (Niumbaha superba), or badger bat, is a rare species of vesper bat in the family Vespertilionidae.[2] It is the only species in the genus Niumbaha.[3] While not related directly, the pied bat partly resembles a bee, with light yellow stripes and blotches on its body, the stripes being primarily on its back, but these are more vector-like and symmetrical and have more angles on each stripe. An interesting thing to note is that the pied bat is a completely unique bat. Biology professor DeeAnn Reeder, one of the species' discoverers, 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]
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 determined to be of a new genus entirely, Niumbaha, named after the Zande word for "rare".[5][3]
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
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b c 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.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link) - ^ "Striped like a badger: New genus of bat identified in South Sudan". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 2018-08-02.
- ^ 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.
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External links
