habitat_narrative
Terrestrial
This species occurs in miombo savannah on Karoo Sandstone, and in diverse riparian woodland fringes of the Lutope and Ngolanola rivers as well as along the Limpopo River at Pafuri (Taylor et al. 2012). It appears to be locally quite widespread in the Soutpansberg, Blouberg and Waterberg ranges in Limpopo Province as well as in the Limpopo Valley (19 localities known), where it is dependent on natural caves (such as sandstone cliffs or hollows in baobabs) or man-made underground cavities such as old mine adits (Pearl 1994; Taylor et al. 2013). One roost in the Soutpansberg comprised an underground spring which had been opened to the surface artificially. This species is insectivorous.Ecosystem and cultural services: Insectivorous bats are important regulators of insect populations (Boyles et al. 2011; Kunz et al. 2011). Several bat species feed on arthropods that damage crops, and thus agricultural areas with bats require less pesticides (Kunz et al. 2011).
