| Publication Type: | Journal Article |
| Year of Publication: | 1995 |
| Authors: | K. F. Koopman, Kofron, C. P., Chapman, A. |
| Journal: | Am. Mus. Novitates |
| Pagination: | 1-24 |
| Date Published: | 1995 |
| Keywords: | biodiversity, Chiroptera, communities, ecology, Faunistik, Fledermäuse, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, habitat preferences, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mammalia, morphology, Pteropodidae, rainforests, Sierra Leone, species richness, systematics, taxonomy, Vegetation, West Africa, zoogeography |
| Abstract: | Lists of bat species were (with critical taxonomic study when necessary) compiled for six countries of West Africa from Ghana to Guinea-Bissau (79 from Ghana, 62 from Ivory Coast, 57 from Liberia, 57 from Sierra Leone, 37 from Guinea, 24 from Guinea-Bissau) with a total (for all six countries) of 94 species. All but two species extend east of this region, 40 extend west of it, and two (Rhinolophus guineensis, Hipposideros marisae) appear to be confined to it. On the basis of overall distribution, 42 species are classified as basically forest, 18 as savanna, 29 ecologically widespread, and 5 (Rhinolophus simulator, R. clivosus, R. maclaudi, Hipposideros marisae, Myotis tricolor) as upland, at least in West Africa. A more detailed analysis is attempted for those species occurring in Liberia. This has revealed a number of uncertainties and alternative interpretations. Some of these are probably related to the progressive deforestation that has accompanied human impact in Liberia as elsewhere. |