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In 2010, Ara Monadjem, Peter Taylor, Woody Cotterill and Corrie Schoeman completed the book Bats of Southern and Central Africa, published by Wits University Press. This was a large-scale synthesis of what was known at that time of the chiropteran fauna from the northern boundary of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the southern limit of Tanzania to the southern tip of the continent. The book was a milestone on the bats of the region, bringing together information from field studies, museum specimens held in institutions around the world, and unpublished data from a range of researchers and naturalists. The manuscript went to press in mid-2010 and the book was released in September 2010. Given subsequent field, museum, and laboratory research by the authors and numerous other biologists on African bats, new information was gathered and, as is the nature with this type of synthesis, portions of the 2010 book were out of date – a clear sign of scientific progress.

As an indication of their passion and devotion to advancing science and information available on the bats of southern Africa, the authors have produced a revised edition. The four authors have a combined total of 120 years of fieldwork on African bats. Their knowledge is clearly reflected in this simply superb revised edition. On the basis of new data and taxonomic revisions, 125 species of 11 families are covered in the new version, compared to 116 species and 9 families in the 2010 edition. There are numerous improvements, including expanded and improved identification keys (matrices), additional vocalisation spectrograms, dozens of new images of skulls, photographs of live animals of species not previously illustrated, and up-to-date species distribution range maps.

The regional, national, and international scientific communities interested in Chiroptera are indebted to the authors for their efforts to advance information on the bats of the southern portion of Africa. This new synthesis is a critical step forward in understanding the biology and natural history of bats, important for guiding new field and laboratory studies, as well as contributing to the conservation of these fascinating animals.

Steven M. Goodman

MacArthur Field Biologist, Field Museum of Natural History (USA) and Vice President, Association Vahatra (Madagascar)

2020