The Chinese rufous horseshoe bat (''Rhinolophus sinicus'') 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 ...

in the family Rhinolophidae. It is found 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 ...

, 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 ...

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

, 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 ...

. The species is most easily confused with '' R. affinis'', from which it is best distinguished by its straight-sided lancet and the relatively short second phalanx of the third digit (< 66% of the length of the

metacarpal In human anatomy, the metacarpal bones or metacarpus form the intermediate part of the skeletal hand located between the phalanges of the fingers and the carpal bones of the wrist, which forms the connection to the forearm. The metacarpal bones ar ...

; Csorba ''et al''. 2003).

Subspecies

''Rhinolophus sinicus'' is divided into the following two subspecies: * ''R. s. septentrionalis'' * ''R. s. sinicus''

Description

The Chinese rufous horseshoe bat has a forearm length of . It has an ear length of and a tail length of . Overall, it is considered a medium-sized horseshoe bat. It is similar in appearance to the rufous horseshoe bat, though with longer wings. While also similar to Thomas's horseshoe bat, it is slightly larger. The fur on its back is bicolored: the basal two-thirds of individual hairs are brownish-white, while the tips of the hairs are reddish brown. Its belly fur is paler in color and is brownish-white.

Biology and ecology

The Chinese rufous horseshoe bat is a social animal, forming

colonies In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...

of a few individuals up to several hundred. During the reproductive season, the sexes segregate, with females forming maternity colonies. Additionally this species is a food source of the parasite '' Sinospelaeobdella'', a jawed land leech. They roost in caves, often with other bat species.

Conservation status

Chinese rufous horseshoe bats are a

least-concern species 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 ...

, assessed by the Red List of Threatened Species on the basis that it has fairly wide distribution and is locally common in southeast Asia. The species is not listed in the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Wildlife in 1989.

Disease

Bats of this species form the natural reservoir of '' severe acute respiratory syndrome–related coronavirus''. An example of one particular strain present is Bat SARS-like coronavirus WIV1.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1767536 Rhinolophidae Bats of China Mammals of Nepal Mammals described in 1905 Taxa named by Knud Andersen Taxonomy articles created by Polbot