The Bismarck trumpet-eared bat (''Kerivoula myrella''), also known as the Manus Island woolly bat, is a species of vesper bat in the family Vespertilionidae. It is found in subtropical or tropical dry forests.

Taxonomy

The Bismarck trumpet-eared bat was described as a new species in 1914 by British mammalogist

Oldfield Thomas Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas (21 February 1858 – 16 June 1929) was a British zoologist. Career Thomas worked at the Natural History Museum on mammals, describing about 2,000 new species and subspecies for the first time. He was appoin ...

. The holotype had been collected on Manus Island, which is part of the

Bismarck Archipelago The Bismarck Archipelago (, ) is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about 50,000 square km. History The first inhabitants o ...

Description

Overall, the Bismarck trumpet-eared bat is similar in appearance to Hardwicke's woolly bat. It has a forearm length of .

Biology and ecology

It is an echolocating species with frequency modulation of its calls. The calls are broadband, with very slight curvature of the downward sweep of call frequencies. Its echolocation calls have low energy, meaning that it is unlikely to be detected by

acoustic detector Acoustic may refer to: Music Albums * ''Acoustic'' (Above & Beyond album), 2014 * ''Acoustic'' (Deine Lakaien album), 2007 * ''Acoustic'' (Everything but the Girl album), 1992 * ''Acoustic'' (John Lennon album), 2004 * ''Acoustic'' (Love Amo ...

s unless it passes close to the device's microphone.

Range and habitat

It is found in Papua New Guinea, though its range may also include Indonesia. It has been documented at a range of above sea level.

Conservation

As of 2008, it is evaluated as a Vulnerable species 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 designation regarding its population size, ecological requirements, and threats it may be facing.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q303760 Kerivoulinae Bats of Oceania Bats of Indonesia Mammals of Papua New Guinea Mammals of Western New Guinea Bismarck Archipelago Vulnerable fauna of Oceania Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas Mammals described in 1914 Bats of New Guinea