Blasius's horseshoe bat (''Rhinolophus blasii'') is a species of

insectivorous A robber fly eating a hoverfly An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant that eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects. The first vertebrate insectivores were ...

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 ...

in the family Rhinolophidae found throughout large parts of the Mediterranean, Middle East and Africa.

Taxonomy

Blasius's horseshoe bat was described as a new species in 1866 by German naturalist

Wilhelm Peters Wilhelm Karl Hartwich (or Hartwig) Peters (22 April 1815 in Koldenbüttel – 20 April 1883) was a German natural history, naturalist and explorer. He was assistant to the anatomist Johannes Peter Müller and later became curator of the Natural ...

. The

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

had been collected in Italy. The

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

for the

species name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

"''blasii''" was German zoologist

Johann Heinrich Blasius Johann Heinrich Blasius (7 October 1809 – 26 May 1870) was a German zoologist. His sons, Rudolf Heinrich Paul Blasius (1842-1907) and August Wilhelm Heinrich Blasius (1845–1912) were ornithologists. Biography In 1836, he was appointed as a ...

Description

Individuals have forearm lengths of and weigh , making it small for an African horseshoe bat.

Biology and ecology

Blasius's horseshoe bat is

, consuming moths, termites, beetles, and flies, among other kinds. It hunts for its prey by

hawking Hawking may refer to: People * Stephen Hawking (1942–2018), English theoretical physicist and cosmologist *Hawking (surname), a family name (including a list of other persons with the name) Film * ''Hawking'' (2004 film), about Stephen Haw ...

, or catching insects on the wing, or

gleaning Gleaning is the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers' fields after they have been commercially harvested or on fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest. It is a practice described in the Hebrew Bible that became a legall ...

, which means plucking insects off foliage or the ground. Its social behaviors are poorly understood, but it will roost singly or in small groups. Group foraging consisting of up to five individuals has been reported in Malawi. They have one annual breeding season, and females give birth to a single young.

Range and habitat

Blasius's horseshoe bat has been documented at a range of elevations from above sea level. It has a large geographic range, though its populations are patchily distributed. Its range includes Africa, Asia, and Europe. It is extinct in Italy, and possibly extinct in Slovenia. Its habitat includes deserts, savannas, shrublands, and forests.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q772758 Rhinolophidae Mammals of Azerbaijan Mammals of Afghanistan Mammals of Pakistan Mammals described in 1866 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Bats of Europe Bats of Asia Bats of Africa Taxa named by Wilhelm Peters