Racey pipebat

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Racey pipebat
Systematics
Superfamily : Smooth-nosed (Vespertilionoidea)
Family : Smooth-nosed (Vespertilionidae)
Subfamily : True smooth-nosed (Vespertilioninae)
Tribe : Pipistrellini
Genre : Pipistrelle bats ( Pipistrellus )
Type : Racey pipebat
Scientific name
Pipistrellus raceyi
Bates , Ratrimomanarivo , Harrison & Goodman , 2006

The Racey Zwergfledermaus ( PIPISTRELLUS RACEYI ) is a species of bats of the genus of dwarf bats ( Pipistrellus ) and is endemic in Madagascar before. It was first scientifically described and named in 2006 . The endo pipistrelle ( Pipistrellus endoi ), the Mount Popa pipistrelle ( Pipistrellus paterculus ) and the Japanese pipistrelle ( Pipistrellus abramus ), which occur in East Asia, are closely related to the Racey pipistrelle , so the ancestors of the species probably came from Asia. The main distinguishing features between these species are the structure of the hands, skull, and male reproductive organs.

The Racey pipistrelle was found in four locations in Madagascar, two of which are in the eastern and two in the western lowlands. In the east the species was found in agricultural areas while in the west it occurs in dry forest areas. Due to the inadequate data on the way of life and the population size, the species is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) as a "Data Deficient" with no risk classification.

features

general characteristics

The Racey pipistrelle is a small to medium-sized pipebat . The long fur is colored reddish brown on the upper side, whereby the head is a little darker. The underside is yellowish brown. The swollen glands on the muzzle near the nose are hairless. The dark, short and rounded ears have three to five folds. The crescent-shaped tragus is about half the length of the ear and has a slight narrowing at the back of the base.

The wings are dark in color. The third to fifth metacarpal bones are about the same length while the first finger bone of the third finger is short - in contrast to the endo-piped bat, in which this bone is longer. The Racey pipistrelle has short shins and small feet, and the tail is shorter than the animal's head and body. The forearm length is 28 to 31.2 millimeters, the tail length 22.9 to 30.3 millimeters. The foot length is 5.3 to 7.5 millimeters and the ear length 7.5 to 10.6 millimeters in 13 measured individuals. The females are slightly larger than the males.

Genital features

The males have a long, straight penis with a knot between the penis shaft and the narrow, egg-shaped glans penis . It has a length of 9.6 to 11.8 millimeters, the penis bone (baculum) reaches a length of 8.8 to 10.0 millimeters. Near the end, the penis is hairy while the base is hairless. The shaft of the penis bone is long, narrow and slightly curved. The length of the penis and the penis bone distinguishes Pipistrellus raceyi from all smooth noses of comparable size in Africa and Madagascar. The endo pipistrelle , Mount Popa and Pipistrellus abramus have a similar penile bone, whereas that of Pipistrellus abramus is more curved , the shaft and tip of Pipistrellus paterculus and the basal end of Pipistrellus endoi are thicker.

Skull and tooth features

On the skull there is a well-defined depressed area in the center of the front part of the muzzle that almost touches the back edge of the large, V-shaped nostril . Next to the opening are two raised areas above the incisors . The zygomatic arches are slender. The bulge above the eye is well developed. The Japanese pipistrelle, the Mount Popa pipebat, and the endo pipebat have a flatter snout and less prominent bulges above the eyes. The skull is average in size and has a weak sagittal crest . The occiput is convex. The sides of the concave palates are roughly parallel.

2 · 1 · 2 · 3  =  34
3 · 1 · 2 · 3
Tooth formula from Pipistrellus raceyi

The type has two front teeth (incisors), a canine (canine), two Vorbackenzähne (Praemolares) and three molars (Molar) in an upper jaw half and three cutting teeth , a canine, two Vorbackenzähne and three molars in the lower jaw half. The animals have a total of 34 teeth. Since the ancestors of the species lost the first upper incisor as well as the first and third premolar teeth of the original mammalian dentition, the incisors are designated as I2 and I3 (I stands for incisors) and the premolar teeth as P2 and P4 (P stands for premolars ) designated. The upper I2 has a well-formed second tooth tip next to the main tip and I3 reaches approximately the height of this secondary tip. The short upper canine has only one point. P2 is in the foreground and is slightly displaced towards the inside of the row of teeth. P4 does not touch the canine. The first and second upper molars (M1 and M2) are about the same size, the third (M3) is smaller. Each of the lower incisors has three tips and the third (i3) can touch the lower canine (c1). This one has a second peak that is higher than the i3. The p2 touches the back of the canine and has between 59 and 100% of the tooth surface of the second molar tooth (p4). In the first two lower molars (m1 and m²) the rear group of tooth tips ( talonid ) is larger than the anterior ( trigonid ), and m³ is smaller than the other two molars.

distribution and habitat

Locations of PIPISTRELLUS RACEYI in Madagascar

The Racey pipistrelle was found in four locations in Madagascar, two of which are in the eastern and two in the western coastal area. All sites were in the lowlands below 80 meters in height.

A detection area to the east is at Kianjavato , a rural community surrounded by farmland and secondary forest , where Pipistrellus raceyi was caught exiting a cave in a concrete wall of a house and in a Japanese net over a river. The other eastern location is in Tampolo , it is located in a heavily agricultural area. The two western sites, Kirindy and Mikea , are in the dry forest . The bat species Hypsugo anchietae was also found in Kirindy . The actual range of Pipistrellus raceyi is probably larger than currently known.

Way of life

Very little data is available on the way of life and reproduction of this bat. Nothing is known about its diet - like most other smooth noses , this species probably feeds on small flying insects that it prey on in the air.

The young are likely to be born at the beginning of the rainy season in November and December when there is plenty of food. Six individuals were captured in their quarters in Kianjavato , of which only one was male. The first description concluded that the species is probably polygynous and forms groups of individual males with several females.

Research history and systematics

The taxonomy of the little smooth-nosed (Vespertilionidae) in Madagascar has been unclear since it was first recorded in 1905. In that year Oldfield Thomas and his colleague Harold Schwann described the species Vespertilio matroka , which Paul Bates and his colleagues classify as Neoromicia matroka together with some other species in the genus Neoromicia . Although several species of pipefish bats were detected in the following years, their status remained largely unknown, mainly due to the lack of preparations. Martin Göpfert and colleagues identified a species with similarities to Southeast Asian species in 1995 and assigned it to the “ pipistrellus group”. In 2006, Paul Bates and his colleagues reported on a collection of 44 Malagasy smooth noses that the Harrison Institute had received. This contained several bat species that were first documented in Madagascar, as well as a scientifically completely unknown species of pipitic bats. This species was described as Pipistrellus raceyi in 2006 .

The species name raceyi was chosen in honor of the bat researcher Paul Racey . The researchers also gave the bat the common name " Racey's pipistrelle bat ", which means " Racey's pipistrelle bat". In a 2007 article, Steven Goodman mentioned this species as part of a flock of newly described bat species from Madagascar; the number of species known for Madagascar increased from 27 in 1995 to 37 in 2007.

Pipistrellus raceyi is similar to the Asian species Pipistrellus endoi , Pipistrellus paterculus and Pipistrellus abramus . Bates and his coworkers hypothesized that she is closely related to them. If this turns out to be correct, the ancestors of Pipistrellus raceyi came from Asia and not from Africa like most of the rest of the island's bat fauna. Pipistrellus raceyi shares this peculiarity with a few other Malagasy bat species such as the Madagascar flying fox ( Pteropus rufus ) and the two species of the genus Emballonura recorded in Madagascar .

Threat and protection

Due to the inadequate data on the way of life and the size of the population, the species is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) as a “data deficient” without a hazard classification. All sites are located near forest areas where forest protection measures are implemented. In view of the few individuals found, this could also be a coincidence. Forest loss could pose a threat to the species.

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b Bates et al., 2006, p. 302
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Bates et al., 2006, p. 304
  3. ↑ a b Bates et al., 2006, p. 309
  4. ↑ a b Bates et al., 2006, table 1
  5. ↑ a b Bates et al., 2006, p. 305
  6. ↑ Bates et al., 2006, pp. 306-307
  7. ↑ Bates et al., 2006, pp. 307, 309
  8. ↑ Bates et al., 2006, pp. 302, 304-305; Hill and Harrison, 1987, p. 238
  9. ↑ Bates et al., 2006, pp. 309, 311; Goodman, 2007, p. 14
  10. ↑ a b Bates et al., 2006, p. 311
  11. ↑ a b Bates et al., 2006, pp. 299-300; P. 313
  12. ↑ Bates et al., 2006, p. 301
  13. ^ Goodman, 2007, p. 13
  14. ↑ Bates et al., 2006, p. 321
  15. ↑ Pipistrellus raceyi in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2011. Posted by: Jenkins, RKB, Rakotoarivelo, AR, Ratrimomanarivo, FH & Cardiff, SG, 2008. Accessed December 19, 2011th

literature

Web links

Commons : Pipistrellus raceyi  - collection of images, videos and audio files
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on January 4, 2012 .