Rüppell's horseshoe bat (''Rhinolophus fumigatus'') is a species of

bat Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). 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 birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

in the family Rhinolophidae found in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests,

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

, caves and other subterranean habitats. This species is quite common in parts of its range, and no specific threats have been recognised, so the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

has rated its conservation status as being of "

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

Description

Rüppell's horseshoe bat is a small microbat, although fairly large for an African species. The upper parts have grey to greyish brown fur, each individual hair having a pale greyish-brown or greyish-fawn shaft with a blackish tip. The underparts are slightly paler than the dorsal pelage. The ears are small and the noseleaf has a sub-triangular lancet with slightly concave sides and a rounded tip. The horseshoe is about wide and approximately covers the muzzle. The wing membranes are dark brown to dark grey. The only other bat species with which it is likely to be confused are the eloquent horseshoe bat (''Rhinolophus eloquens'') and Hildebrandt's horseshoe bat (''Rhinolophus hildebrandtii''), both of which are slightly larger.

Distribution and habitat

Rüppell's horseshoe bat is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to Africa, south of the

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

. It occupies a large swathe of western and central Africa, ranging from Senegal and the Gambia eastwards to Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea. Its range continues southwards along the eastern side of Africa to Angola, Namibia and northern South Africa. It is generally associated with both dry and wet

h areas, and with dry forests. It roosts colonially in

cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruppell's horseshoe bat Rhinolophidae Mammals described in 1842 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Bats of Africa Taxa named by Eduard Rüppell