''Hipposideros atrox'', commonly known as the lesser bicolored leaf-nosed bat, is a species of

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 ...

found in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

. Originally described as a

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

in 1918, it was recognized as a full species in 2010. It uses echolocation to navigate and find prey, and roosts in

cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

s during the day.

Taxonomy

''Hipposideros atrox'' was described as a new subspecies of ''Hipposideros gentilis'' by Danish mammalogist Knud Andersen in 1918; he described ''H. gentilis'' in the same publication. 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 by

Arthur Lennox Butler Arthur Lennox Butler (22 February 1873 – 29 December 1939) was a British naturalist. Born in Karachi, he became a curator of a natural history museum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He later became the superintendent of a game preserve in Sudan be ...

in the Malaysian state of

Selangor Selangor (; ), also known by its Arabic language, Arabic honorific Darul Ehsan, or "Abode of Sincerity", is one of the 13 Malaysian states. It is on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is bordered by Perak to the north, Pahang to the east ...

. ''Hipposideros gentilis'' has been recognized as a synonym of the

Pomona roundleaf bat The Pomona roundleaf bat, Pomona leaf-nosed bat, or Andersen's leaf-nosed bat (''Hipposideros pomona'') is a species of bat in the family Hipposideridae that is endemic to India. Taxonomy It was described as a new species in 1918 by Danish mam ...

(''Hipposideros pomona''). In 1963, British mammalogist

John Edwards Hill John Edwards Hill (11 June 1928 – 6 May 1997) was a British mammalogist who described 24 species and 26 subspecies during his career. Early life and education Hill was born on 11 June 1928 in the small hamlet of Colemans Hatch in East Sussex, ...

included ''H. atrox'' as a subspecies of the

bicolored roundleaf bat The bicolored roundleaf bat (''Hipposideros bicolor'') is a species of bat in the family Hipposideridae found in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Timor-Leste. This bat inhabits caves, rock crevices and tunnels among lowland for ...

(''Hipposideros bicolor''). However, in 2010 ''H. atrox'' was recognized as a distinct species for the first time, which was followed 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 ...

in 2019.

Description

''H. atrox'' has a forearm length of . Males have an average body weight of while females have an average body weight of .

Biology and ecology

It is an echolocating species of bat, using constant frequency echolocation. The frequency of maximum energy is approximately 142 k Hz. It roosts in sheltered areas during the day such as caves, which it cohabitates with other species of the genus '' Hipposideros''

Range and habitat

It is native to

where its range includes

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 ...

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 ...

, 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 ...

. It has been documented at a range of elevations from above sea level.

Conservation

As of 2019, ''H. atrox'' is considered a least-concern species by the IUCN. It meets the criteria for this designation because it has a wide geographic range; its population is presumably large; it tolerates human disturbance of the landscape; and it is not thought to be experiencing rapid population decline.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q67184458 Taxa named by Knud Andersen Hipposideros Bats of Southeast Asia Mammals described in 1918