Schreber's yellow bat (''Scotophilus nigrita'') or the giant house bat, is a species of

vesper bat Vespertilionidae is a family of microbats, of the order Chiroptera, flying, insect-eating mammals variously described as the common, vesper, or simple nosed bats. The vespertilionid family is the most diverse and widely distributed of bat famili ...

. It is found in

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the nort ...

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

, Ivory Coast,

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

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 ...

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

Togo Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...

, and

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

. 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 or tropical moist lowland

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s, dry

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland- grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

, and moist savanna. It is an uncommon species and its biology is poorly known. It was first described in 1774 by the German naturalist Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber, who named it ''Vespertilio nigrita''. It was later transferred to the genus ''

Scotophilus ''Scotophilus'' is a genus of vespertilionid bats commonly called yellow bats. They are found in southern Asia and Africa. They are the only members of the tribe Scotophilini. Species * East African yellow bat, ''Scotophilus altilis'' * An ...

'', making it ''Scotophilus nigrita''.

Description

Schreber's yellow bat is a large, robust bat, the largest vesper bat in Africa. It has a head-and-body length of about , a tail length of and a fore-arm length of about , females tending to have slightly longer forearms than males. The canines are well-developed, the upper jaw has a single incisor and four cheek teeth on each side, and the lower jaws have no incisors and five cheek teeth. The ears are medium-sized and widely separated, and there is no

nose-leaf A nose-leaf, or leaf nose, is an often large, lance-shaped nose, found in bats Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals ...

. The dorsal pelage is some shade of blackish-brown, dark brown or greyish-brown, tinged with yellow. The ventral pelage is pale yellow or yellowish-grey. The wing membranes are blackish-brown and the tail is almost totally enclosed in the interfemoral membrane.

Distribution

This is an uncommon species with a wide distribution across Africa. In tropical West Africa it occurs in Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo and Nigeria, in Central Africa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, western Kenya and Tanzania, and in southern Africa it occurs in Mozambique, Malawi and eastern Zimbabwe. Because it flies high off the ground, and is seldom caught in mist nets, it may be under-recorded, also occurring in other countries within this range. Habitats from which it has been caught include tropical rain forest, riverine forest, moist savanna and wooded savanna. It roosts in various locations and has been found under a corrugated iron hut roof, where the temperature was more than , over a dry river bed, over a pond and in a hollow dead ''

Hyphaene ''Hyphaene'' is a genus of palms native to Africa, Madagascar, the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent.Govaerts, R. & Dransfield, J. (2005). World Checklist of Palms: 1-223. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The gen ...

'' palm tree.

Behaviour

Little is known about the behaviour of this bat, its reproductive biology or its diet. There is a hypothesis that it is a

carnivore A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other s ...

, as suggested by the cusp pattern of the cheek teeth. In captivity, the related white-bellied yellow bat (''Scotophilus leucogaster'') has eaten geckos and dead bats, however, other aspects of the teeth suggest that Schreber's yellow bat is an insectivore, as the teeth are adapted for crushing rather than slicing.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1831989 Schreber's yellow bat Bats of Africa Mammals of Sub-Saharan Africa Schreber's yellow bat Taxa named by Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber Taxonomy articles created by Polbot