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Abstract: Hipposideros caffer (Sundevall, 1846) is a hipposiderid bat commonly called Sundevall's leaf-nosed or roundleaf bat. H. caffer is a medium-sized insectivorous bat with a horseshoe-shaped nose leaf and 2 color phases in adulthood. It is 1 of 67 species in the genus Hipposideros and is found in the southwestern Arabian Peninsula, in most of Africa south of the Sahara (excluding the central forested region), and in Morocco, Zanzibar, and Pemba. H. caffer is a savanna-dwelling species and inhabits a variety of roost types including caves, hollow trees, and abandoned buildings. It often roosts in groups of thousands of individuals, is very common, and is not of special conservation concern. DOI: 10.1644/845.1.
Key words: Africa, bat, echolocation, insectivore, Sundevall's leaf-nosed bat, Sundevall's roundleaf bat
Published 25 November 2009 by the American Society of Mammalogists
Synonymy completed 20 September 2008 www.mammalogy.org
Hipposideros caffer (Sundevall, 1846)
Sundevall's Leaf-nosed Bat
Rhinolophus caffer Sundevall, 1846:118. Type locality ''Circa Port-Natal [5 Durban],'' South Africa.
Phyllorrhina gracilis Peters, 1852:36. Type locality ''Africa orientalis-17u Lat.'' Tete,Zambezi River,Mozambique.
Phyllorrhina bicornis von Heuglin, 1861:4, 7. Type locality ''Kérén, Eritrea.''
Phyllorhina angolensis Seabra, 1898:256. Type locality ''Rio Coroca,'' Angola.
Hipposiderus tephrus Cabrera, 1906:358. Type locality ''Mogador [5 Medina of Essaouira],'' Morocco.
Hipposiderus caffer: Andersen, 1906:269. Name combination.
Hipposideros nanus J. A. Allen, 1917:434. Type locality ''Faradje, Uele district, Belgian Congo [5 Democratic Republic of the Congo].''
Hipposideros caffer: de Beaux, 1924:155. First use of current name combination.
Hipposideros caffer aurantiaca de Beaux, 1924:155. Type locality ''Belet Mamu, Basso Giuba [Lower Juba River],'' Somalia.
Hipposideros braima Monard, 1938:73. Type locality ''Bagingara,'' Guinea-Bissau.
CONTEXTANDCONTENT. Order Chiroptera, suborderYinpterochiroptera (Teeling et al. 2002), family Hipposideridae (Simmons 2005). Although subspecies limits are not clearly defined, 4 subspecies are currently recognized (Simmons 2005):
H. c. caffer (Sundevall, 1846:118). See above; aurantiaca de Beaux, bicornis Heuglin, and gracilis Peters are synonyms.
H. c. angolensis (Seabra, 1898:256). See above.
H. c. nanus J. A. Allen, 1917:434. See above.
H. c. tephrus (Cabrera, 1906:358). See above; braima Monard is a synonym.
NOMENCLATURAL NOTES. Conflicting views of the status of H. caffer versus H. ruber are common, and some have considered the 2 taxa to comprise the ''caffer-ruber'' group (e.g., see Lawrence 1964). H. caffer and H. ruber are not currently considered to be...