Tag Archives: Vespertilionidae

Nyctophilus howensis McKean

Lord Howe Long-eared Bat (Nyctophilus howensis)  

The Lord Howe Long-eared Bat, described in 1975, is known from a single subfossil specimen, an incomplete skull that had been found some years prior on a ledge in the Gooseberry Cave on Lord Howe Island; the age of this skull was estimated to be between 100 and 50 years.

There is also an account from the late 1800s that may be referrable to this species.:

“The only indigenous lower mammals existing on Lord Howe are bats, but even these are not plentiful. A single specimen of Scotophilus morio, Gray [Chocolate Wattled Bat (Chalinolobus morio (Gray))], similar to those obtained by Morton was shot by Mr. Unwin, and a larger species was occasionally seen. The “gardens” and other clearings are their favourite haunts, but they are sometimes seen flying around the cottages.” [1]

All attempts to find additional bone material or even living specimens of the species were unsuccessful and it is now considered extinct.

***

The photo below shows the closely related Lesser Long-eared Bat (Nyctophilus geoffreyi Leach) which is found in continental Australia where it appears to be quite common and widespread.

*********************

Lesser Long-eared Bat (Nyctophilus geoffreyi)

Photo: Isaac Clarey
https://www.inaturalist.org/people/isaacclarey
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

*********************

References:

[1] Robert Etheridge: The general zoology of Lord Howe Island; containing also an account of the collections made by the Australian Museum Collecting Party, Aug.-Sept., 1887. Australian Museum Memoir 2(1): 1-42. 1889

*********************

edited: 27.02.2024

Myotis oreias (Temminck)

Singapore Whiskered Bat (Myotis oreias)  

The Singapore Whiskered Bat was described in the year 1840.  

The species, however, is known only from the type, which, moreover, is damaged, furthermore it is quite impossible that a bat species should be restricted to such a small region as Singapore.  

***

The ‘species’ thus is mentioned here only for the sake of completeness.  

*********************  

edited: 23.09.2017

Myotis diminutus Moratelli & Wilson

Small Whiskered Bat (Myotis diminutus)

This species was described in 2011 and was originally known only from the type, a subadult individual that had been collected in 1979 in a fragment of moist forest on the western slopes of the Ecuadorian Andes.

A second specimen, discovered some years later in a museum collection was collected in 1959 at La Guayacana in western Colombia. 

The Small Whiskered Bat apparently is/was restricted to the so-called Chocó ecoregion, lowland forest areas that now are mostly deforested, and is probably extinct. [1]

*********************

References:

[1] Ricardo Moratelli; Don E. Wilson: A second record of Myotis diminutus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae): its bearing on the taxonomy of the species and discrimination from M. nigricans. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 127(4): 533-543. 2015

*********************

edited: 13.01.2019

Pipistrellus sturdeei Thomas

Sturdee’s pipistrelle (Pipistrellus sturdeei)  

Sturdee’s Pipistrelle was described in 1915 and so far, is only known from the type specimen that was collected at an unknown location sometime at the end of the 19th century.  

Some sources cite Hahajima in the Ogasawara Archipelago, Japan, as the location of the species, but that seems to be a mistake.  

***

The taxonomic status of the animal is actually not entirely clear either.

*********************

edited: 30.04.2021

Murina tenebrosa Yoshiyuki

Gloomy Tube-nosed Bat (Murina tenebrosa)  

This species was described in 1970 based on a single female specimen that was collected in 1962 on Tsushima, an island located in the Korea Strait, approximately halfway between the Japanese mainland and the Korean Peninsula.  

The island is badly deforested, the bat was never found again since its discovery and description, and is thus most likely extinct.  

*********************  

edited: 06.11.2017