The Bala tube-nosed bat (''Murina balaensis'') is a critically endangered species of

bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most bi ...

found in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

Taxonomy and etymology

It was first encountered in September 2012. Its closest relative is Eleryi's tube-nosed bat (''Murina eleryi''). As the genus ''Murina'' is split into species groups, the Bala tube-nosed bat is placed into the ''suilla'' group, which also contains the

little tube-nosed bat The little tube-nosed bat (''Murina aurata'') is a species of bat. An adult little tube-nosed bat has a body length of 4.0-4.6 cm, a tail length of 2.8-3.6 cm, and a wing length of 3.0-3.3 cm. The species is found across South a ...

Beelzebub's tube-nosed bat Beelzebub's tube-nosed bat (''Murina beelzebub''), also Beelzebub bat or demon bat, is a species in the vesper bat family Vespertilionidae, found in the Greater Mekong region of Southeast Asia, specifically the Quảng Trị and Gia Lai province ...

, the

ashy-gray tube-nosed bat The ashy-gray tube-nosed bat (''Murina cineracea'') is a species in the vesper bat family Vespertilionidae, found in southern Asia, including Pakistan, northern India, Burma, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. They have tube-shaped nostrils (hence the ...

, Eleryi's tube-nosed bat, the slender tube-nosed bat, ''

Murina harpioloides The Da Lat tube-nosed bat (''Murina harpioloides'') is a species of vesper bats (Vespertilionidae). It is found in Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in ...

'', the

greater tube-nosed bat The greater tube-nosed bat (''Murina leucogaster'') is a species of bat. An adult greater tube-nosed bat has a body length of 4.2-5.7 cm, a tail length of 3.6-4.1 cm, and a wing length of 3.7-4.4 cm. The species is found in India ...

, '' Murina recondita'', the forest tube-nosed bat (sometimes considered synonymous with the Ussuri tube-nosed bat), the brown tube-nosed bat,

Scully's tube-nosed bat Scully's tube-Nosed bat (''Murina tubinaris'') is a species of vesper bat in the family Vespertilionidae. It can be found in the following countries: India, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Thailand, and Viet Nam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt ...

, and

Ussuri tube-nosed bat The Ussuri tube-nosed bat (''Murina ussuriensis'') is a species of vesper bat in the family Vespertilionidae. It is threatened by habitat loss. It is the only species of bat that hibernates in snowbanks. Taxonomy and etymology It was described ...

.Corbet, G. B., & Hill, J. E. (1992). The mammals of the Indomalayan region: a systematic review (Vol. 488). Oxford: oxford university press.Csorba, G., Son, N. T., Saveng, I., & Furey, N. M. (2011). Revealing cryptic bat diversity: three new Murina and redescription of M. tubinaris from Southeast Asia. Journal of Mammalogy, 92(4), 891-904. Its species name, ''balaensis'', refers to the Bala Forest of Thailand where it is found.

Description

It is a small bat, weighing only . Its forearms are long. Its ears are rounded with smooth margins, measuring long. The ears are brown in color, with the base of the ear a lighter brown. The tragus is white and short, at long. Their dorsal fur is ashy-gray, with some hairs tipped in a reddish-orange tint of brown. Other dorsal hairs are tipped in a charcoal black color. Their heads, backs,

uropatagia The patagium (plural: patagia) is a membranous body part that assists an animal in obtaining lift when gliding or flight. The structure is found in extant and extinct groups of flying and gliding animals including bats, birds, some dromaeosaurs, ...

, and feet have silver-gold guard hairs. On their ventral side, their hairs are dark gray at the base, but whitish gray at the tips. Their thumbs are relatively long, at long. The

calcar The calcar, also known as the calcaneum, is the name given to a spur of cartilage arising from inner side of ankle and running along part of outer interfemoral membrane in bats, as well as to a similar spur on the legs of some arthropods. The cal ...

is well-developed, but lacks a keel.Soisook, P., Karapan, S., Satasook, C., & Bates, P. J. (2013). A new species of Murina (Mammalia: Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) from peninsular Thailand. Zootaxa, 3746(4), 567-579.

Biology

It eats insects, foraging for them only above the forest floor. It likely roosts in leaves or hollow trees.

Range and habitat

It occurs in moist, evergreen lowland rainforests in the

Narathiwat Province Narathiwat ( th, นราธิวาส, Malay: Menara) is one of the southern provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are (from west clockwise) Yala and Pattani. To the south it borders the Malaysian state of Kelantan an ...

of southern

. It has only been encountered in the Bala Forest of Hala-Bala Wildlife Sanctuary.

Conservation

It is currently evaluated as critically endangered by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

. It meets the criteria for this evaluation because its area of occupancy and extent of occurrence are both very small, at less than . Also, there is a projected decline in the quality and extent of their habitat. It is threatened by habitat loss due to deforestation and the expansion of agriculture.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17343316 Mammals described in 2013 Bats of Southeast Asia Murininae Mammals of Thailand Endemic fauna of Thailand