Blanford's bat (''Hesperoptenus blanfordi''), also known as the least false-serotine bat, is a species of

vesper bat Vespertilionidae is a family of microbats, of the order Chiroptera, flying, insect-eating mammals variously described as the common, vesper, or simple nosed bats. The vespertilionid family is the most diverse and widely distributed of bat familie ...

. It can be found in

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely sur ...

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

and

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 ...

, where it lives in various different forested habitats. The

International Union for Conservation of Nature 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 ...

has assessed its conservation status as being of "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

Taxonomy

Blanford's bat was first described in 1877 by the Irish zoologist and army surgeon

George Edward Dobson George Edward Dobson FRS FLS FZS (4 September 1848 at Edgeworthstown, County Longford, Ireland – 26 November 1895) was an Irish zoologist, photographer and army surgeon. He took a special interest in bats, describing many new species, and som ...

, who served in India and was an expert on small mammals and especially bats. He named it "''Hesperoptenus blanfordi''" in honour of the British geologist and zoologist

William Thomas Blanford William Thomas Blanford (7 October 183223 June 1905) was an English geologist and naturalist. He is best remembered as the editor of a major series on ''The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma''. Biography Blanford was born ...

who was a member of the Indian Geological Survey and later published works on the fauna of India.

Description

Blanford's bat is a small vesper bat with a robust body and short fore-arm, in length. The head is pointed and the second

incisor Incisors (from Latin ''incidere'', "to cut") are the front teeth present in most mammals. They are located in the premaxilla above and on the mandible below. Humans have a total of eight (two on each side, top and bottom). Opossums have 18, whe ...

is inwardly displaced. The dark brown fur is smooth and glossy, and there is a pad of thickened, dark-coloured skin at the base of the thumb.

Distribution and habitat

Blanford's bat is found in mainland southeast Asia and Borneo. Its range includes eastern Myanmar, Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia. It is also present in some parts of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam and it has been observed in a few localities in eastern Borneo. It is a rather uncommon species of bat and is found in lowland humid forests, dryer dipterocarp forests, hill forests and limestone caves. It often occurs near streams and small rivers and lives in small colonies of up to ten individuals.

Status

Blanford's bat has a wide range and is presumed to have a moderate-sized total population. The population trend is unknown, but no particular threats to the animal have been detected and it seems to be adaptable to a range of habitats. It is present in a number of

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

s and any decline in total population is likely to be at a low rate, so the

has assessed its conservation status as being of "

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q305396 Hesperoptenus Bats of Southeast Asia Bats of Indonesia Bats of Malaysia Taxa named by George Edward Dobson Mammals described in 1877 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot