''Ozimops petersi'', the inland free-tailed bat is a species of bat found in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It is notable for being able to tolerate the most extreme body temperature range of any known mammal.

Taxonomy

It was initially described in 1884 by Swedish zoologist Dr. Wilhelm Leche. Leche had acquired a collection of specimens from Gustav Schneider, a Swiss natural history dealer, and used to describe a new species that was distinguishable from the rest of the series. In 1906,

Oldfield Thomas Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas (21 February 1858 – 16 June 1929) was a British zoologist. Career Thomas worked at the Natural History Museum on mammals, describing about 2,000 new species and subspecies for the first time. He was appoin ...

published a paper in which he considered ''N. petersi'' as synonymous with an earlier description of species ''Mormopterus planiceps'' ('' Ozimops planiceps'', in part). This status was largely maintained until 2014, although greater diversity had previously been identified, when a study examining the

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines * Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts * Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies ...

and

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...

of the bats of Australia showed that it was distinct enough to be considered a full species. This description removed the name from a synonymy of ''M. planiceps'', publishing a subgeneric arrangement ''Mormopterus'' (''Ozimops'') ''petersi'' before that was elevated to genus ''

Ozimops ''Ozimops'' is a genus of molossid bats found in Australia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Description ''Ozimops'' are small and stout microbats, with forearm measurement ranging from 29 to 41 millimetres and weigh from 6 to 18 grams. The ea ...

''. Leche initially placed it in the now defunct genus ''Nyctinomus'' with the

species name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''petersi''. While Leche did not state the

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

for the species name "''petersi''", it is possible that it was named in honor of

Wilhelm Peters Wilhelm Karl Hartwich (or Hartwig) Peters (22 April 1815 in Koldenbüttel – 20 April 1883) was a German natural history, naturalist and explorer. He was assistant to the anatomist Johannes Peter Müller and later became curator of the Natural ...

, a German naturalist who described several species and genera of bats and had died a year prior to Leche's publication in 1884.

Description

In describing the species, Leche noted that it is similar in appearance to the east-coast free-tailed bat, ''Mormopterus norfolkensis''. He wrote that it differs in its flat, compressed skull. It is a small species of bat, with a head and body length of , a tail length of , and a forearm length of . The tail extends approximately past the edge of the

uropatagium The patagium (plural: patagia) is a membranous body part that assists an animal in obtaining lift when gliding or flight. The structure is found in extant and extinct groups of flying and gliding animals including bats, birds, some dromaeosau ...

. Its tragus is tiny, at only long. It weighs .

Biology

''Ozimops petersi'' is nocturnal species, roosting in sheltered places during the day such as tree cavities or under metal roofs. Females have one breeding season annually, and give birth in November or December. The litter size is generally one individual, with the young called a "pup."

Body temperature toleration

This species of bat can tolerate the most extreme range of body temperatures of any known mammal. Its body temperature has been recorded as low as and as high as . This upper limit even exceeds recorded maximum body temperatures of

camel A camel (from: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. C ...

s. These bats can survive these otherwise lethal extremes by using

torpor Torpor is a state of decreased physiological activity in an animal, usually marked by a reduced body temperature and metabolic rate. Torpor enables animals to survive periods of reduced food availability. The term "torpor" can refer to the time ...

, which is a physiological adaptation.

Conservation

As of 2020, it is listed as

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

by the IUCN—its lowest conservation priority. It meets the criteria for this assessment because it has a large geographic range; it tolerates a variety of habitats; its population size is thought to be large; and it is documented regularly throughout its range. Its population may exceed one million individuals, although this number may be declining.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q18419330 Mammals described in 1884 Bats of Australia Ozimops