www.elsevier.de/mambio Short communication Comments on Welwitsch’s mouse-eared bat (Myotis welwitschii) with the first record from Cameroon By O. Sedla ´c ˇek, D. Hor ˇa ´k, J. Riegert, J. Reif and I. Hora ´c ˇek Department of Ecology, Charles University, Prague; Department of Zoology, Charles University, Prague; Department of Zoology, University of South Bohemia, C ˇ eske ´ Bude ˇjovice; and Center for Theoretical Study, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic Receipt of Ms. 1.2.2005 Acceptance of Ms. 19.11.2005 Key words: Myotis welwitschii, distribution, new record, Cameroon Welwitch’s mouse-eared bat, Myotis wel- witschii (Gray, 1866) is a large-sized repre- sentative of the genus Myotis, which ranks among the rarest African bats. Its taxonomi- cal and distributional status has remained enigmatic for a long time. On 15 December 2003, we captured a male individual of the species about 5 km eastern from Big Babanki village in the Bamenda Highlands, NW Province, Cameroon (GPS position: N06105 0 27 00 ; E10118 0 9 00 ; 2203 m a.s.l.). This is the first record of M. welwitschii from Cameroon and the second one from West Africa. The record is quite distant from the nearest known localities in Guinea, Angola and eastern Congo (see Fahr and Ebigbo 2003 for review) and thus it improves the current knowledge of the species’ distribution in an essential way. The individual was found on daytime when roosted freely at trunk of Vernonia sp. (family Asteraceae) about 1 m above ground. The locality is situated in the centre of the mountain range with the highest summits reaching 2000–3000 m a.s.l. The vegetation cover consists of mosaic of montane forest patches, shrubby corridors, grasslands and vegetable plantations. The measurements of the specimen (adult male, testes 4.5 Â 3.0 mm in retreat, cauda epididymys quite long) were as follows: FA 61.7 mm, HB 60.0, tail 58.0, A 20.0, T 8.5, hind foot 13.7, tibia 26.8 mm, weight 6.3 g, LCr 20.6, Cb 20.0, Zyg 13.6, IO 4.8, InfO 6.0, BB 9.2, MastB 10.4, HB 6.6, IM3/ 9.7, CM3/ 8.3, P4M3/ 5.9, M1M3/ 4.8, CC 5.5, P4P4 6.6, M3M3 8.5, Md 16.2, IM/3 10.3, CM/3 8.9, P4M/3 6.5, M1M/3 5.5, CrH 5.2. In most measurements the specimen slightly exceeds the variation range reported for this species (Kock 1967; Taylor 1991; Ratcliffe 2002; Fahr and Ebigbo 2003). The specimen is deposited in the collections of Department of Zoology, Charles University Prague. Likewise in many animal taxa living in tropical regions, the distribution of M. welwitschii is to the considerable degree unknown or based on rather casual records. Until now, no breeding colony was found, no data on reproduction or roosting ecology are available except the information based on individual specimens. Considering them, the species is reported to roost solitarily in canopy, low bushes or in houses (Ratcliffe 2002) without any preference of underground roosts (Taylor 1991). Its extreme rarity in all regions from which it was reported is stressed as a typical character of the species (Rauten- bach 1997). Until 2002, the known range of the species was restricted to southern and ARTICLE IN PRESS 1616-5047/$ - see front matter r 2005 Deutsche Gesellschaft fu ¨ r Sa ¨ugetierkunde. Published by Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.mambio.2005.11.004 Mamm. biol. 71 (2006) 2 Á 120–123