The big-eared horseshoe bat (''Rhinolophus macrotis'') is a

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 ...

species within the Rhinolophidae native to Asia.

Taxonomy

The big-eared horseshoe bat was described as a new species in 1844 by English zoologist Edward Blyth. 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 sever ...

had been collected by

Brian Houghton Hodgson Brian Houghton Hodgson (1 February 1800 or more likely 1801 – 23 May 1894) was a pioneer naturalist and ethnologist working in India and Nepal where he was a British Resident. He described numerous species of birds and mammals from the Hima ...

Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...

. 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 ...

"''macrotis''" is from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

'' makrós'' meaning "long" and '' oûs'' meaning "ear". It contains many subspecies; a 2008 paper listed seven such subspecies: *''R. m. macrotis'' Blyth, 1844 *''R. m. episcopus''

Allen Allen, Allen's or Allens may refer to: Buildings * Allen Arena, an indoor arena at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee * Allen Center, a skyscraper complex in downtown Houston, Texas * Allen Fieldhouse, an indoor sports arena on the Unive ...

, 1923 *''R. m. caldwelli'' Allen, 1923 *''R. m. siamensis'' Gyldenstolpe, 1917 *''R. m. dohrni''

Andersen Andersen () is a Danish-Norwegian patronymic surname meaning "son of Anders" (itself derived from the Greek name " Ανδρέας/Andreas", cf. English Andrew). It is the fifth most common surname in Denmark, shared by about 3.2% of the population. ...

, 1907 *''R. m. hirsutus'' Andersen, 1905 *''R. m. topali'' Csorba & Bates, 1995 ''R. m. hirsutus'', ''R. m. episcopus'' were originally described as full species, but

George Henry Hamilton Tate George Henry Hamilton Tate (April 30, 1894 – December 24, 1953) was a British-born United States, American zoologist and botanist, who worked as a mammalogist for the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. In his lifetime he wro ...

included them as subspecies of ''R. macrotis'' in a 1943 publication. In the same publication, Tate included ''R. m. caldwelli'' as a subspecies; previously, it was considered a subspecies of ''R. episcopus''. Most recently, ''R. m. siamensis'' has been considered a full species rather than a subspecies, known as the Thai horseshoe bat.

Description

The big-eared horseshoe bat can be differentiated from other horseshoe bats by its very long ears and a tongue-shaped sella that is long and broad.

Range and habitat

The big-eared horseshoe bat is found in several countries in South and Southeast Asia including

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

, China,

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

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 ...

, Laos,

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 ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

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 b ...

, and

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. As of 2008, its presence was possible but not confirmed in

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...

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

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1764267 Rhinolophidae Fauna of Pakistan Horseshoe Bat, Big-eared Mammals of Bhutan Mammals described in 1844 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Edward Blyth Bats of Southeast Asia Bats of Asia