''Falsistrellus'' is a genus of

vespertilionid 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 ...

family of bats, small predatory flying mammals. They are known from Australia. The poorly researched species have been variously placed by authors, and revised again by studies of their distinct characteristics, consequently the falsistrelles may also be referred to as pipistrelles or false pipstrelles.

Taxonomy

Common names for the species include falsistrelle and false pipistrelle. The description of the genus was published in 1943 by

Ellis Le Geyt Troughton Ellis Le Geyt Troughton (born in Sydney on 29 April 1893; died 30 November 1974) was an Australian zoologist and mammalogist. Biography Ellis Troughton began to exercise his interest in mammals at fourteen years of age, taking a role at the Au ...

. Some authorities maintain the earlier treatment of taxa as genus ''

Pipistrellus ''Pipistrellus'' is a genus of bats in the family Vespertilionidae and subfamily Vespertilioninae. The name of the genus is derived from the Italian word , meaning "bat" (from Latin "bird of evening, bat"). The size of the genus has been cons ...

'', while other maintain this as a separate group. One revision of the genus ''Pipistrellus'' resurrected Troughton's genus to accommodate the south-eastern Australian ''

Falsistrellus tasmaniensis The eastern false pipistrelle (''Falsistrellus tasmaniensis'') is a vesper bat that occurs in eastern and south-eastern Australia, including the island of Tasmania. Taxonomy A species of genus '' Falsistrellus'', allied to the family Vespertil ...

'' and elevated the south-western Australian pupulation as a new species, '' Falsistrellus mackenziei''. The

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

of the genus is ''Vespertilio tasmaniensis'', described by

John Gould John Gould (; 14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist. He published a number of monographs on birds, illustrated by plates produced by his wife, Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists, including Edward Lear, ...

in 1858, thus the combinations as ''Pipistrellus tasmaniensis'' and ''F. tasmaniensis''. The species outside of Australia have been supposed to be conspecific, and those endemic to the continent separated by a variety of taxonomic treatments. The limited morphological or morphometric analyses lent support to some arrangements, yet remained inconclusive in their implications to ranks of genus and species of associated taxa. The phylogenetic study of '' Falsistrellus petersi'' and '' Nyctalus plancyi'' in 2012, then later work on vespertilionid taxa of the region, had implications for the inclusion of

Indomalayan The Indomalayan realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms. It extends across most of South and Southeast Asia and into the southern parts of East Asia. Also called the Oriental realm by biogeographers, Indomalaya spreads all over the Indi ...

species, the ''affinis'' group, in genus ''Falsistrellus'' and a phylogenetic reconstruction (2018) sees them assigned to genus ''

Hypsugo The genus ''Hypsugo'' contains many bats referred to as pipistrelles or pipistrelle bats (not to be confused with the genus ''Pipistrellus''). They belong to the family Vespertilionidae or vesper bats. They are primarily found throughout Asia, th ...

''.

Species

As workers began to outline the diversity of vespertilionids during twentieth century several taxa were allied as the ''affinis'' group (Tate, 1942. ''et al''), currently named as ''Falsistrellus affinis'', ''F. petersi'' and the inclusion or omission of species ''F. mordax''. The Australian taxa were named for the type as a ''tasmaniensis'' group, which came to include the western population as ''F. mackenziei''. The ASM MammalDiversity Database recognizes two species: *genus ''Falsistrellus'' * Eastern false pipistrelle or eastern falsistrelle, ''Falsistrellus tasmaniensis'' An Australian endemic, named for

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

and found elsewhere *

Western false pipistrelle The western false pipistrelle, species ''Falsistrellus mackenziei'', is a vespertilionid bat that occurs in Southwest Australia. The population is declining due to loss of its habitat, old growth in tall eucalypt forest which has largely been c ...

or western falsistrelle, ''Falsistrellus mackenziei''. This western group is also considered as ''Falsistrellus tasmaniensis'', in treatments combining the remote populations as one species.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q248049 Bat genera Taxa named by Ellis Le Geyt Troughton