Southern Forest Bat

About the Southern Forest Bat

The southern forest bat (Vespadelus regulus) is a vesper bat found in Australia. A species of Vespadelus, of the diverse and common micro-bats, bats assigned as either suborder Yangochiroptera or Microchiroptera. The description for the species was published by Oldfield Thomas in 1906. The holotype, of indeterminate sex, was collected at King River, Western Australia at sea level. The specimen was obtained on a survey of Southwest Australia, along with several other bat species. The lectotype, a skull held at British Museum of Natural History, was nominated in 1968, providing a single specimen from the material collected by Thomas.

Thomas ascribed the species as Pipistrellus regulus, allying it to the genus Pipistrellus. The species has also been placed with genus Eptesicus. Prior to analysis that led to the description of new species, the population was assigned to a poorly studied pumilis group of Australian bat taxa. Taxonomic instability also saw the species placed within a subgenus Pipistrellus (Vespadelus), while others were elevating that taxon as genus Vespadelus.

The taxonomic status of the population west of Adelaide, South Australia, is suspected to be a separate... Wikipedia →