European exploration of Africa
One of the ships under command of Diogo Dias arrived at a coast that was not in East Africa. Two years later, a chart already showed an elongated island east of Africa that bore the name Madagascar. But only a century later, between 1613 and 1619, did the Portuguese explore the island in detail. They signed treaties with local chieftains and sent the first missionaries, who found it impossible to make locals believe in Hell, and were eventually expelled.
Miniopterus aelleni
In a 1995 contribution to "Faune de Madagascar" on Malagasy bats, Randolph Peterson and colleagues listed four species of "Miniopterus" on Madagascar and the nearby Comoros, including the small "Miniopterus manavi" with a broad distribution on both Madagascar and the Comoros. However, during the first decade of the 21st century, molecular studies have revealed that "Miniopterus", a widespread genus in the Old World, is much more species-rich than previously thought. A 2008 study comparing sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome "b" and D-loop markers found two distinct, unrelated groups within the supposed "M. manavi" from the Comoros; both groups were also found on Madagascar. The next year, Steven Goodman and colleagues revisited the group with more extensive sampling on Madagascar. They separated three species within the former ""M. manavi"": "M. manavi" itself in the Central Highlands, "M. griveaudi" (previously a subspecies of "M. manavi") on Anjouan, Grande Comore, and northern and western Madagascar, and the newly described "Miniopterus aelleni" on Anjouan and northern and western Madagascar. The specific name "aelleni" honors Prof. Villy Aellen of the Natural History Museum of Geneva, who has done much research on African bats. Within "M. aelleni", Goodman and colleagues found some differentiation (3.4% sequence divergence in cytochrome "b" sequences) between individuals from Montagne d'Ambre in northern Madagascar and those from Anjouan and Ankarana, near Montagne d'Ambre; the cytochrome "b" divergence between "M. aelleni" and other Malagasy "Miniopterus" is 7 to 10%.