Sponsor
We thank the Cameroon Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation for kindly granting us research and collecting permits to undertake the research described herein, Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife for permission to export our specimens, the Sub-Prefect of the Akono and Okolo Districts for research authorization, and Faculty of Agronomy and Agricultural Sciences of the University of Dschang. We are immensely thankful to the communities surrounding Mbam Minkom Massif, who provided access, assistance, and accommodation; and in particular, our host family in Nkolakié. We thank Kevin Feldheim and Field Museum of Natural History's Pritzker Laboratory staff for providing facilities and assisting with molecular work. We thank the FMNH Mammal Division for handling loans and cataloging materials. We are particularly grateful for the financial contributions raised through community support, which played a crucial role in the realization of this project. In addition, funding was provided for ALG from Portland State University's Lester Newman Undergraduate Research Scholars Program and Spike Wadsworth and Y. Sherry Sheng Fund for Biology. LAR was supported by a Faculty Enhancement Grant from Portland State University. Franck Meyo Okono received travel support from BCI and FMNH, and the ‘Bats of Kenya’ project provided critical support to identifying our material.
Published In
Acta Chiropterologica
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-1-2025
Subjects
Bats -- Research
Abstract
We report the results of two expeditions (2019 and 2022) to the Mbam Minkom Massif (Centre Region, Cameroon), focused on an assessment of the montane area's bat fauna. We describe bat species' richness and highlight the incredible diversity and ecological importance of this highly threatened ecosystem. Across both years, we captured a total of 36 bat species representing 21 genera and six families on Mbam Minkom Massif and in the surrounding lowland forest. Our findings include two new species records for Cameroon, and two additional records of the recently described bat, Pseudoromicia mbamminkom. We provide accounts for all captured species, including new locality records, detailed capture locations, and notable taxonomic and distributional observations, as well as echolocation call data. Sampling curves suggest adequate sampling coverage, yet also the potential non-detection of several bat species, highlighting the need for further fieldwork to develop a comprehensive species checklist. Conservation strategies are urgently needed to protect this vital ecosystem and mitigate both the loss of forest cover and consequent species loss. Our findings illustrate the importance of the Mbam Minkom Massif and the need to better understand and conserve inselberg ecosystems within rainforests that are facing intense anthropogenic pressures.
Rights
Copyright (c) 2025 The Authors
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Locate the Document
DOI
10.3161/15081109ACC2024.26.2.011
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/43267
Publisher
Museum and Institute of Zoology at the Polish Academy of Sciences
Citation Details
Grunwald, A. L., Demos, T. C., Atagana, P. J., Volk, C. M., Monadjem, A., Okono, F. P. M., Ngueagni, Y., Merrill, R. T., Bevers, I., Armstrong, K. D., Kilber, E. E., Talla, A., Fils, E. M. B., Patterson, B. D., Ballhorn, D. J., & Ruedas, L. A. (2025). Uncovering the Diversity of Bats in the Mbam Minkom Massif, Cameroon: Insights into the Importance of Tropical Inselbergs. Acta Chiropterologica, 26(2). https://doi.org/10.3161/15081109acc2024.26.2.011