Nathusius' pipistrelle (''Pipistrellus nathusii'') is a small

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 ...

in 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 word , meaning "bat" (from Latin "bird of evening, bat"). The size of the genus has been cons ...

''. It is very similar to the

common pipistrelle The common pipistrelle (''Pipistrellus pipistrellus'') is a small pipistrelle microbat whose very large range extends across most of Europe, North Africa, South Asia, and may extend into Korea. It is one of the most common bat species in the Brit ...

and has been overlooked in many areas until recently but it is widely distributed across

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. It was described by two German naturalists, Alexander Keyserling and

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 ...

, and named by them after Hermann von Nathusius, in gratitude for his support of their research.

Description

The length of the head and body is 46–55 mm and the wingspan is 220–250 mm. It has a forearm length of 32–40 mm and weighs about 6–15.5g. The fifth finger is longer than 43 mm. Its

fur Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket t ...

is medium-dark reddish-brown above, often with paler tips, and is pale brown below. The fur is longer and less uniformly-coloured than the common pipistrelle. It is also larger than the common pipistrelle with broader wings. The face, ears, wings and tail are dark.

Distribution

Nathusius' pipistrelle occurs from

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

eastward as far as the

Ural Mountains The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

and the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...

. It is highly migratory with individuals from northern and eastern areas moving south-west for the winter. Preferred habitats are parkland and light

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (se ...

, often near water. It is generally commoner in Central and

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...

. In the west it is mainly a rare winter visitor but new breeding colonies have been found in several areas in recent years. In

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

it was previously thought to be a vagrant with only a handful of records including several from

oil rig {{about, , the mnemonic OIL RIG, Redox An oil rig is any kind of apparatus constructed for oil drilling. Kinds of oil rig include: * Drilling rig, an apparatus for on-land oil drilling * Drillship, a floating apparatus for offshore oil drilling ...

s in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

. It is now known to breed at several sites in

and

. Threats to the species include the loss of hollow trees and toxic chemicals from the treatment of timber in buildings. However, it is a protected species in many countries and breeds successfully in bat boxes.

Diet and reproduction

It emerges early to hunt, flying in straight lines with rapid, deep wingbeats at around 3 to 15 metres above the ground. It feeds on small to medium-sized flying

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...

s, particularly

chironomid The Chironomidae (informally known as chironomids, nonbiting midges, or lake flies) comprise a family of nematoceran flies with a global distribution. They are closely related to the Ceratopogonidae, Simuliidae, and Thaumaleidae. Many specie ...

midges. Breeding colonies are located in hollow trees, bat boxes and sometimes in buildings. Mating takes place from July to early September when males gather a harem of females in their mating territory. In spring the females gather at nursery roosts where they give birth to two young.

Echolocation

The frequencies used by this bat species for echolocation lie between 36–62 kHz, have most energy at 41 kHz and have an average duration of 6.9 ms.Obrist, M.K., Boesch, R. and Flückiger, P.F. (2004) 'Variability in echolocation call design of 26 Swiss bat species: Consequences, limits and options for automated field identification with a synergic pattern recognition approach.' ''Mammalia''., 68 (4): 307–32.

References

* Frank Greenaway & A. M. Hudson (1990) ''A Field Guide to British Bats'', Bruce Coleman Books, Uxbridge * Jon Russ (2004
Nathusius' pipistrelle in Great Britain & Ireland
(retrieved 15/01/07) * Wilfried Schober & Eckard Grimmberger (1993) ''Hamlyn Guide: Bats of Britain and Europe'', Hamlyn, London. * R. E. Stebbings & Francesca Griffith (1986) ''Distribution and Status of Bats in Europe'', Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Huntingdon.

External links

ARKive
Photographs, Video.
Listen to bat sing
Audio of courtship song at roost and while flying. {{Taxonbar, from=Q520425 Pipistrellus Mammals described in 1839 Taxa named by Alexander von Keyserling Taxa named by Johann Heinrich Blasius Bats of Asia Bats of Europe Pipistrelle, Nathusius's Mammals of Russia Mammals of Central Asia Mammals of Turkey Mammals of Azerbaijan Fauna of Cyprus