Westward range extension of Temminck's hairy bat in South Africa and Lesotho: Short communication

The recorded distribution of Myotis tricolor in southern Africa is extended 240 km westwards with the collection of two specimens from two localities in the Orange Free State and seven specimens from two localities in Lesotho. The specimens from the Orange Free State were collected in well vegetated areas while those from Lesotho were netted in open grassland. These records are not regarded as vagrants because pregnant and non-pregnant females as well as males were collected at Marakabei. The pregnant female collected at Van Soelenshoek was most probably netted in the vicinity of a maternity cave because the females of this species arrive at maternity caves from mid-August. Some of the females collected in October and November were pregnant, with the female collected in November being near-term.