Blyth's horseshoe bat (''Rhinolophus lepidus'') 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 ...

in the family Rhinolophidae. It is found across southern Asia from Afghanistan to Vietnam. The species can be identified from its pointed, bifid sella.

Taxonomy

Blyth's horseshoe bat was described as a new species in 1844 by English zoologist

Edward Blyth Edward Blyth (23 December 1810 – 27 December 1873) was an English zoologist who worked for most of his life in India as a curator of zoology at the museum of the Asiatic Society of India in Calcutta. Blyth was born in London in 1810. In 1841 ...

. Blyth noted that 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 likely been collected near

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

, India.

Description

Individuals have a forearm length of around .

Biology and ecology

The Blyth's horseshoe bat population on

Tioman Island Tioman Island ( ms, Pulau Tioman) is a mukim and an island in Rompin District, Pahang, Malaysia. It is located off the east coast of the state, and is some long and wide. It has seven villages, the largest and most populous being Kampung Te ...

, Malaysia, is known to fly and hunt in the forest during the day and night. It is thought that these bats can forage during the day owing to the absence of resident avian predators in the forest there. It uses echolocation to navigate, flying in a fluttering style through cluttered airspace in search of insect prey. Its echolocation signal frequency is around 91 k Hz.

Range and habitat

Blyth's horseshoe bat is widely distributed in South and Southeast Asia, and has been documented in the following countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, and Vietnam. It is found at a range of elevations from above sea level.

References

External links