Schneider's leaf-nosed bat
| Schneider's leaf-nosed bat | |
|---|---|
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| Profile of Schneider's leaf nosed bat | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Chiroptera |
| Family: | Hipposideridae |
| Genus: | Hipposideros |
| Species: | H. speoris |
| Binomial name | |
| Hipposideros speoris (Schneider, 1800) | |
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| Schneider's leaf-nosed bat range | |
Schneider's leaf-nosed bat or Schneider's roundleaf bat (Hipposideros speoris) is a species of bat in the family Hipposideridae. It is found in India and Sri Lanka. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, caves, and urban areas.
It was named after Johann Gottlob Schneider, a German classicist and naturalist.
Description
Head and body length is 8–9 cm. Forearm is 5c. Wingspan 30–34 cm. Weight 9-15g.
In older males, the frontal sac is well developed. Has lappets next to the nostrils. Color varies from grayish to bright golden brown, underparts are lighter. Extreme ends of hairs are darker than the basal portion, mottled appearance. Fur is short. Wing membrane blackish brown. Ears rather small, with rounded tips. Distinctive leaf-nose.
This insectivorous bat prefers to roost in dark and inaccessible caves, and synanthropic habitats like old temples and unused houses (Selvanayagam and Marimuthu 1983). However, recently Mahandran et al. (2015) reported that this bats exhibit greater fidelity and could roost very closely with human presence. In the cave-temple known to be Muthaiyan temple, which situated in the Hogenakkal forest (N 11°57′ E 77°45′; 272.7 masl), where rituals like burning of camphor and ringing of bells have not disturbed the roosting bats and there were about thousands of individuals.
Culture
Known as කෙස් කෙටි පත්-නාස් වවුලා in Sinhala, meaning short-haired a=leaf-nosed bat.
References
- Participants of CBSG CAMP Workshop: Status of South Asian Chiroptera 2004. Hipposideros speoris. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 30 July 2007.
- Selvanayagam PFL and Marimuthu G. Spatial organization of roosting in the insectivorous tropical bat Hipposideros speoris. Behavioural Process, 1983, 9: 113–121.
- Mahandran V, Murugan CM and Thiruchenthil Nathan P. An unusual roosting behaviour of Schneider’s leaf-nosed bat, Hipposideros speoris at a cave-temple roost in Tamil Nadu. Current Science 109: 858–859.