The lesser woolly horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus beddomei), also called Beddome's horseshoe bat, is a species of bat in the family Rhinolophidae. It is found in India and Sri Lanka. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, caves, and urban areas.
| Lesser woolly horseshoe bat | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Chiroptera |
| Family: | Rhinolophidae |
| Genus: | Rhinolophus |
| Species: | R. beddomei
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| Binomial name | |
| Rhinolophus beddomei Andersen, 1905
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| Lesser woolly horseshoe bat range | |
Taxonomy and etymology
editIt was described as a new species in 1905 by Danish mammalogist Knud Andersen.[2] The eponym for the species name "beddomei" is Colonel Richard Henry Beddome, a British officer and naturalist who spent a good deal of his career in India.[3] Beddome was the collector of the holotype for this species. The holotype was collected in the Wayanad district of India.[2] As Rhinolophus is quite speciose, it is divided into closely related "species groups." Andersen placed the lesser woolly horseshoe bat in the philippensis species group,[2] but Simmons includes it in the trifoliatus species group.[4] Some authors have considered it a subspecies of the woolly horseshoe bat; since 1992, it has usually been accorded full species status.[5]
Description
editThe bat's head and body length is 7 centimetres (2.8 in), with a forearm 6 centimetres (2.4 in) long and a wingspan of 33 centimetres (13 in). Females are larger than males. Pelage is rough-textured and woolly. Body completely dark grayish brown, upper side grizzled. Wing membrane blackish brown. The ears are prominent, well-fluted, and pointy and nose-leaf is complex with a distinctive shape.
Biology and ecology
editIt is nocturnal, using echolocation to navigate in the dark. It echolocates at frequencies of 31.0–38.3kHz; its frequencies of maximum energy are 38.5 and 38.7 kHz. Its call duration is 48.2–58.0 seconds.[6]
References
edit- ^ Srinivasulu, B.; Srinivasulu, C. (2019). "Rhinolophus beddomei". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019: e.T40023A22061859. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T40023A22061859.en. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
- ^ a b c Andersen, K. (1905). "XXVIII.—On the Bats of the Rhinolophus philippinensis Group, with Descriptions of Five new Species". Journal of Natural History. 16 (92): 243–257. doi:10.1080/03745480509443674.
- ^ Beolens, B.; Watkins, M.; Grayson, M. (2009). The eponym dictionary of mammals. JHU Press. p. 34. ISBN 9780801895333.
- ^ Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M., eds. (2005). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
- ^ Topál, G.; Csorba, G. (1992). "The subspecific division of Rhinolophus luctus Temminck, 1835, and the taxonomic status of R. beddomei Andersen, 1905 (Mammalia, Chiroptera)" (PDF). Miscellanea Zoologica Hungarica. 7: 101–116.
- ^ Raghuram, H.; Jain, M.; Balakrishnan, R. (2014). "Species and acoustic diversity of bats in a palaeotropical wet evergreen forest in southern India". Current Science: 631–641.