The Ziama horseshoe bat (''Rhinolophus ziama'') is a species of

bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most bi ...

in the family Rhinolophidae. It was first described in 2002. It is found in

Guinea Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

, and

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s are subtropical and tropical moist lowland and monstane forests. In 2013,

Bat Conservation International Bat Conservation International (BCI) is an international nongovernmental organization working to conserve bats and their habitats through conservation, education, and research efforts. BCI was founded in 1982 by bat biologist Merlin Tuttle, who ...

listed this species as one of the 35 species of its worldwide priority list of conservation.

Description

The Ziama horseshoe bat can be distinguished from the

Maclaud's horseshoe bat Maclaud's horseshoe bat (''Rhinolophus maclaudi'') is a species of bat in the family Rhinolophidae. It is endemic to Guinea. Its natural habitats are moist savanna, caves and other subterranean habitats. It is one of five African microbat species ...

because it is significantly smaller in body size. While it is smaller than Maclaud's horseshoe bat, it is still one of the largest horseshoe bats in Africa.Kingdon, J., Happold, D., Butynski, T., Hoffmann, M., Happold, M., & Kalina, J. (2013). Mammals of Africa (Vol. 1). A&C Black. They weigh between as adults. Their forearms are . Their ears are long, pointed at the tips, and have 11-12 inner folds. Their noseleafs are wide, almost covering their

snout A snout is the protruding portion of an animal's face, consisting of its nose, mouth, and jaw. In many animals, the structure is called a muzzle, rostrum, or proboscis. The wet furless surface around the nostrils of the nose of many mammals is c ...

s. Their pelage is soft and woolly in texture, with dorsal hairs paler at the base and darker at the tip; ventral hairs are uniformly buffy

''R. maclaudi'' group

As the genus '' Rhinolophus'' is quite speciose, it is split into groups. Maclaud's horseshoe bat is the identifier of one of these groups, called the ''maclaudi'' group, which currently consists of six species, three of which were not described before 2003.Peterhans, J. C. K., Fahr, J., Huhndorf, M. H., Kaleme, P., Plumptre, A. J., Marks, B. D., & Kizungu, R. (2013). Bats (Chiroptera) from the Albertine Rift, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, with the description of two new species of the Rhinolophus maclaudi group. Bonn Zool Bull, 62, 186-202. Members of this group have large ears, and a diminished connection between the sella and lancet. *

—''R. maclaudi'' *'' Rhinolophus willardi''—discovered in 2013 *

Ruwenzori horseshoe bat The Ruwenzori horseshoe bat (''Rhinolophus ruwenzorii'') is a species of bat in the family Rhinolophidae. It is found in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest a ...

— ''R. ruwenzorii'' * Hill's horseshoe bat—''R. hilli'' *'' Rhinolophus kahuzi''—discovered in 2013 *Ziama horseshoe bat—''R. ziama'' ''R. maclaudi'' and ''R. ziama'' are considered the two West African taxa, while the other four species are found further east around the Albertine Rift. The West African species are larger in size than the East African species, with ''R. maclaudi'' as the largest bat of the species group.Fahr, J., Vierhaus, H., Hutterer, R., & Kock, D. (2002). A revision of the Rhinolophus maclaudi species group with the description of a new species from West Africa (Chiroptera: Rhinolophidae). Myotis, 40, 95-126. As these species are very similar morphologically, it was previously thought that ''R. hilli'' and ''R. ruwenzorii'' were the same

taxon In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...

, and that the taxon was a

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of the Maclaud's horseshoe bat.Smith, J. D., & Hood, C. S. (1980). Additional material of Rhinolophus ruwenzorii Hill, 1942, with comments on its natural history and taxonomic status. In Proceedings of the Fifth International Bat Research Conference,(eds. DE Wilson & AL Gardner) (pp. 163-171).

Conservation

As of 2002, only four specimens had ever been encountered; all were captured via mist-netting in 1990 and 1992. Three were encountered in the

Ziama Massif The Ziama Massif is a forested mountain range in Nzérékoré Region of southeastern Guinea. Geography The Ziama Massif extends northeast-southwest, continuing south into Liberia as the Kpo Range. The eastern slopes are drained by the St. Paul ...

, while the other was captured in Wonegizi Nature Conservation Unit in Liberia. Based on the two known locations of occurrence at the time, the species range was feared to be as small as There are concerns that its habitat in Liberia could have been damaged by the

Second Liberian Civil War The Second Liberian Civil War was a conflict in the West African nation of Liberia lasted from 1999 to 2003. It was preceded by the First Liberian Civil War, which ended in 1996. President Charles Taylor came to power in 1997 after victory in t ...

. In 2006, a fifth specimen was captured in

, extending the range of occurrence by .Decher, J., Norris, R. W., & Fahr, J. (2010). Small mammal survey in the upper Seli River valley, Sierra Leone. mammalia, 74(2), 163-176. It is one of five species of

microbat Microbats constitute the suborder Microchiroptera within the order Chiroptera (bats). Bats have long been differentiated into Megachiroptera (megabats) and Microchiroptera, based on their size, the use of echolocation by the Microchiroptera a ...

in Africa listed as

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1768855 Rhinolophidae Mammals described in 2002 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot