''Myotis diminutus'' is a species of

mouse-eared bat The mouse-eared bats or myotises are a diverse and widespread genus (''Myotis'') of bats within the family Vespertilionidae. The noun "''myotis''" itself is a New Latin construction, from the Greek "''muós'' (meaning "mouse") and "''oûs''" (mea ...

found in

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

and

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

. It was recently described as a new species in 2011.

Taxonomy and etymology

''Myotis diminutus'' was described as a new species in 2011 by Moratelli and

Wilson Wilson may refer to: People * Wilson (name) ** List of people with given name Wilson ** List of people with surname Wilson * Wilson (footballer, 1927–1998), Brazilian manager and defender * Wilson (footballer, born 1984), full name Wilson Ro ...

. 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 ...

was collected in February 1979 south of Santo Domingo, Ecuador. The species name "''diminutus''" is

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

for "diminutive". Moratelli and Wilson selected this name because ''M. diminutus'' was the smallest species of

yet described in South America.

Description

Superficially, ''M. diminutus'' is similar to the black myotis in appearance. Very few individuals have ever been documented. Based on the measurements of one individual, a subadult male, individuals weigh approximately and have a forearm length of . Its ears are short, at in length. It has silky, cinnamon-brown fur. Its skull lacks a

sagittal crest A sagittal crest is a ridge of bone running lengthwise along the midline of the top of the skull (at the sagittal suture) of many mammalian and reptilian skulls, among others. The presence of this ridge of bone indicates that there are exceptiona ...

Range

The species was first documented in

. However, a review of museum specimens identified a second individual that had been collected in the Nariño Department of

in 1959. With only two confirmed localities, its elevation range of occurrence is above sea level.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2357286 Mouse-eared bats Bats of South America Mammals described in 2011