LAUSR

The species delimitations species of Scotophilus from the of Afro-Malagasy Region remain unresolved. One of the most problematic named taxa is S. borbonicus, which was described based on specimens reputed to be from La Réunion Island, western Indian Ocean. Only one of two specimens mentioned in the description of S. borbonicus sensu stricto has been located in a museum collection and after considerable recent fieldwork on La Réunion, no Scotophilus has been captured. Given that the name borbonicus has priority over other named small Afro-Malagasy forms, this has led to considerable taxonomic ambiguity. We report here on a short mitochondrial sequence from the lectotype of S. borbonicus, which is nested within individuals of S. trujilloi captured in Kenya and Tanzania. These results are best interpreted as the lectotype of S. borbonicus was not obtained on La Réunion but along the eastern coast of Africa. We propose that the best means to resolve potential taxonomic problems, particularly concerning future research on small Afro-Malagasy members of the genus, is to consider the name S. borbonicus a nomen dubium. If indeed individuals of this genus are captured on La Réunion in the future and molecular data obtained, the species in question may be new to science and in need of formal description.