Falsistrellus Mackenziei
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The western false pipistrelle, species ''Falsistrellus mackenziei'', is a
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 ...
bat that occurs in
Southwest Australia Southwest Australia is a biogeographic region in Western Australia. It includes the Mediterranean-climate area of southwestern Australia, which is home to a diverse and distinctive flora and fauna. The region is also known as the Southwest Aus ...
. The population is declining due to loss of its habitat, old growth in tall eucalypt forest which has largely been clear felled for tree plantations, wheat cultivation and urbanisation. Although it is one of the largest Australian bats of the family, the species was not recorded or described until the early 1960s. A darkly colored bat with reddish brown fur and prominent ears, they fly rapidly around the upper canopy of trees in pursuit of flying insects.


Taxonomy

A species of genus ''
Falsistrellus ''Falsistrellus'' is a genus of vespertilionid 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 char ...
'', allied to the family Vespertilionidae. A 1986 revision of morphological characters of the 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 language, Italian word , meaning "bat" (from Latin "bird of evening, bat"). The size of the ge ...
'' separated the ''tasmaniensis'' group as the type of the new genus, the eastern false pipistrelle species ''
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 described this new species ''Falsistrellus mackenziei'' (western false pipistrelle). The holotype was collected at Donelly, in the south-west of Australia, in 1962 by W. Boswell. The population has been noted with the misspelling ''mckenziei'' (for
synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...
''Pipistrellus mackenziei'') in a 2001 conservation plan. The epithet was derived from the surname of a zoologist, Norman Leslie McKenzie, employed by the
Government of Western Australia The Government of Western Australia, formally referred to as His Majesty's Government of Western Australia, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of Western Australia. It is also commonly referred to as the WA Government o ...
. The relationships of vespertilionid bats are poorly resolved and while the genus ''Falsistrellus'' is known to be
paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...
, all other arrangements of the taxa remain contentious. The species is also recognised as ''Pipistrellus mackenziei'' (Kitchener, Caputi & Jones, 1986). The common names distinguish them from the eastern species ''F. tasmaniensis'' as western false pipistrelle, western falsistrelle and Mackenzie's false pipistrelle. They may also be referred by their former placement with a generic Australian falsistrelle term, the ''tasmaniensis'' group, and the common names that accompanied those descriptions.


Description

''Falsistrellus mackenziei'' is a large
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 ...
bat, superficially resembling the species ''Falsistrellus tasmaniensis''. It has brownish fur over the back, dark or reddish, and a lighter greyish colour at the front. The fur is often 'Dresden Brown' with a 'Prout's Brown' colouring at the base of the hair. The fur at the front is 'light pinkish cinnamon', becoming sepia at the base. The ear is prominent from the fur, and characteristic notches are seen at the outer margin of each lobe. The new species was distinguished from ''Falsistrellus tasmaniensis'' as being generally larger, specifically the comparative size of skull measurements, the proportionally longer dentary, and slightly bigger glans penis. The skull is robust, and an average of 19.2 millimetres at its greatest length (range: 18.2–20.1 mm). External lengths were 61.7 mm for snout to anus (range: 55.4–66.6 mm); forearm 45–56 mm; the tail is 46.2 mm on average (40.1–53.2 mm); tibia 22.1 mm (20.2–23.6 mm); ear 16.7 mm (14.0–18.3 mm); tragus 9.2 mm (7.7–10.6 mm) and
pes Pes (Latin for "foot") or the acronym PES may refer to: Pes * Pes (unit), a Roman unit of length measurement roughly corresponding with a foot * Pes or podatus, a * Pes (rural locality), several rural localities in Russia * Pes (river), a river ...
length 10.2 mm (8.2–11.6 mm). The weight ranges from 17 to 28 grams.


Ecology

It is an
insectivore 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 wer ...
associated with old growth forest that provides the species with its preferred foraging opportunities, this habitat has been greatly reduced by changes in land management or clearing for the wheatbelt. Further expansion of resource exploitation presents a risk to the species, the basis of their conservation status of near threatened. The bat hunts flying insects around the leaf canopy of tall forest, in the valley between tops of trees or the open areas above the mid-storey. Their movements are high-flying, quick and direct, specimens have been captured at heights of 8 metres above the forest floor. The species roosts in colonies of around five to thirty individuals. The range is dominated by
wet sclerophyll Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaves, short internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is parallel or oblique to direct ...
eucalypt forest and semi woodland of the southwest, bounded by arid and agricultural regions to the centre and north. The ecoregion and forest type is jarrah-karri named for the tall trees karri '' Eucalyptus diversicolor'' and jarrah '' Eucalyptus marginata''. The usual roosting sites are in eucalypt tree species old enough to provide hollows, although they have also been recorded in branches or tree stumps. The bats have also been noted as finding accommodation in abandoned buildings. They have also been recorded in remaining stands of older tuart forest (''
Eucalyptus gomphocephala ''Eucalyptus gomphocephala'', known as tuart, is a species of tree, one of the six forest giants of Southwest Australia. Tuart forest was common on the Swan coastal plain, until the valuable trees were felled for export and displaced by the urb ...
''), another tree giant of the south-west now greatly reduced in range. The capture in banksia woodland on the coastal plain, habitat dominated by trees of genus '' Banksia'', is also noted. Competition for suitable tree hollows from feral animals, honey bee colonies and the introduced parrot ''
Trichoglossus haematodus The coconut lorikeet (''Trichoglossus haematodus''), also known as the green-naped lorikeet, is a parrot in the family Psittaculidae. Seven species of lorikeets now recognised were once lumped together under ''Trichoglossus haematodus''. Taxonom ...
'', reduces their availability and so considered a threatening factor to the presence of the species. The once extensive jarrah forests, mostly clearfelled and later managed by forestry practices, provides rich habitat that suits the morphology of this larger species. Their foraging technique has made uses forest tracks while searching for insects, but opportunities within clear-felled areas or subsequent regrowth in areas once used by the bat were removed or greatly reduced. The practice of creating reserves of old growth within logging areas, which are less cluttered beneath the canopy, was found to be more beneficial than regrowth areas intersected by tracks. As with other bats of the south-west region, the northernmost extent of the range is at suitable habitat in urbanised areas. Despite searches for the species in the northern extent of its recorded range, it was not found beyond
Mandurah Mandurah () is a coastal city in the Australian state of Western Australia, situated approximately south of the state capital, Perth. It is the state's second most populous city, with a population of 107,641 as of the 2021 Australian census, 2 ...
at the
Swan Coastal Plain The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geol ...
or Collie in the Jarrah Forest regions. The last record for the species occurring at or north of these areas was 1993. The extent of occurrence for ''Falsistrellus mackenziei'' is calculated to be 33,750 km², having been reduced by 37% in a 39 year period. The decline in population over three generations (21 years) approached 30%. The extent and area of occurrence is also expected to be reduced by 30% in the next fifty years as a result of climate change. The species is not vulnerable to extreme fluctuation or fragmentation of the population. While no census of the species has been undertaken, the population is assumed to be greater than 10000. It may be common in some locations, but capture and acoustic surveys indicate it is less so than
sympatric In biology, two related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter one another. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct species sh ...
species ''
Vespadelus regulus The southern forest bat (''Vespadelus regulus'') is a vesper bat found in Australia. Taxonomy A species of '' Vespadelus'', of the diverse and common micro-bats, bats assigned as either suborder Yangochiroptera or Microchiroptera. The descrip ...
'', the southern forest bat. The species was unrecorded before 1961, when research into the bats of Western Australia first began. The northernmost record of the species was Jandakot, until the investigation of faunal assemblages during the holocene period unearthed fossil specimens at the East Moore cave area in the north of the
Swan Coastal Plain The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geol ...
.


References


External links


Image of the type specimen's skull
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1831829 Bats of Australia Falsistrellus Mammals described in 1962 Mammals of Western Australia Vulnerable fauna of Australia Taxa named by Darrell Kitchener