Ansell's epauletted fruit bat (''Epomophorus anselli'') is a species of

megabat Megabats constitute the family Pteropodidae of the order Chiroptera ( bats). They are also called fruit bats, Old World fruit bats, or—especially the genera ''Acerodon'' and '' Pteropus''— flying foxes. They are the only member of the s ...

in the family Pteropodidae.

Taxonomy and etymology

It was described as a new species in 2004. The

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of sever ...

was collected in 1982 in

Kasungu National Park Kasungu National Park is a national park in Malawi. It is located west of Kasungu, about 175 km north of Lilongwe, extending along the Zambian border. Kasungu National Park, established in 1970, is the second-largest in Malawi at , with an ...

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeas ...

at above sea level. The

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

for the

species name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

"''anselli''" is W. F. H. Ansell (d. 1996) "for his important contributions to the mammalogy of Malawi and other African countries."

Description

Its forearm length is approximately . Its snout is long and narrow. Very little is known about its reproduction, as only a few individuals have been documented. However, a female was collected in mid-May that was classified as "nearly adult."

Range and status

It has only been recorded in Malawi. Its range includes the

miombo The Miombo woodland is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome (in the World Wide Fund for Nature scheme) located primarily in Central Africa. It includes four woodland savanna ecoregions (listed below) characterized b ...

woodland. In 2016, it was evaluated as a data deficient species by the IUCN. There are very few occurrence records for this species; its geographic range, population trend, and ecological requirements are unknown. When describing the species in 2004, the authors stated that there was "no reason to believe that the species is in any danger f extinction, despite its infrequent documentation.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2117534 Epomophorus Bats of Africa Mammals described in 2004