Smaller Horseshoe Bat

About the Smaller Horseshoe Bat

The smaller horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus megaphyllus) is a species of bat in the family Rhinolophidae. It is found in Australia and Papua New Guinea. A species was first described by John Edward Gray in 1834, using a specimen provided by George Bennett that had been collected in a cave near the Murrimbidgee River.

Noted as the megaphyllus-species group, subsuming earlier taxa ranked as species and separating other these previously allied to the species complex. Five subspecies were recognised by Mammal Species of the World (Simmons, 2005)

Rhinolophus megaphyllus J. E. Gray 1834 Rhinolophus megaphyllus megaphyllus Rhinolophus megaphyllus fallax K. Andersen, 1906 Rhinolophus megaphyllus ignifer Allen, 1933 Rhinolophus megaphyllus monachus K. Andersen, 1905 Rhinolophus megaphyllus vandeuseni Koopman, 1982

The common names assigned to the species include the smaller and eastern horseshoe bat. Rhinolophus megaphyllus is a small rhinolophid bat that has a combined head and body length of 44–53 millimetres, with a measurement of the forearm an approximately equal length at 44–52 mm. The mass is in a range of 7 to 13 grams. They have simple and large ears, measuring... Wikipedia →