{{Short description|Species of bat}} {{Speciesbox | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn">{{cite iucn |author=Lumsden, L.F. |author2=Reardon, T.B. |author3=Armstrong, K.N. |year=2021 |amends=2020 |title=''Vespadelus baverstocki'' |volume=2021 |article-number=e.T7913A209532128 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-3.RLTS.T7913A209532128.en |access-date=20 December 2023}}</ref> | taxon = Vespadelus baverstocki | authority = (Kitchener ''et al''., 1987)<ref name="Kitchener1987" /> | synonyms = *''Eptesicus baverstocki''<ref name="Jackson2015" /> }}
The '''inland forest bat''' ('''''Vespadelus baverstocki''''') is a vesper bat that occurs in central and arid regions in Australia. They were first described in 1987, published in a review of poorly surveyed microbat populations. A tiny flying mammal, it occupies small cavities in trees and buildings while roosting. The nocturnal activity is foraging for insects, typically moths.
==Taxonomy == The description of the species was published in 1987, assigning the population to the genus ''Eptesicus''.<ref name="iucn" /> This was later revised to place the group with genus ''Vespadelus''.<ref name="Jackson2015" /> The type specimen was obtained at Yuinmery, an area in the Mid West of the continent, at an altitude of approximately 450 metres.<ref name=MSW3 /> The specimen, an adult male, was shot and collected by R. A. How in February 1980.<ref name="Kitchener1987" />
Authors have placed this with the <nowiki>'</nowiki>''pumilus'' group' of the genus, an uncertain alliance of the species ''Vespadelus pumilus'' and other taxa. A paper in 1994 recognised the population as species ''Vespadelus vulturnus'', which it closely resembles, but this species concept was cited in a later arrangement in a paper providing a diagnostic of female 'little brown bats' assigned to genus ''Vespadelus'' (Queale, 1997;<ref name="Queale1997" /> ''et al'').<ref name=MSW3 /><ref name="Jackson2015" /> While outlining the means of determining females of the species in the field, Queale notes this population as part of a <nowiki>'</nowiki>''regulus'' complex' (a species complex) that encompasses the populations later recognised as ''Vespadelus vulturnus'', ''V. regulus'' and this species, ''V. baverstocki''.<ref name="Queale1997" />
Vernacular for the bat species include 'inland forest' and 'Baverstock's forest bat'.<ref name="Richards2012" /><ref name=MSW3 /> The epithets honour an evolutionary biologist, Peter Raymond Baverstock, whose works include examining the systematics of Australian bats.<ref name="Kitchener1987" />
==Description == A tiny species of the genus ''Vespadelus'' that weigh around five grams. The forearm is around three centimetres in length, slightly more than an inch. The colour of the fur at the back is a greyish-brown or a lighter fawn or sandy brown, this is variable or distinguishes two forms, the belly is respectively pale or white in these groups.<ref name="Richards2012" /><ref name="Menkhorst2011" /> Some individuals are darker beneath, giving them a uniform grey-brown colour.<ref name="Menkhorst2011" /> The face is pinkish and tragus sometimes white.<ref name="Richards2012" /> The tragus is notably lighter than the rest of the ear. The penis of ''V. baverstocki'' is comparatively pendulous rather than bent at an angle, and the glans penis is funnel-shaped, not flattened, in profile.<ref name="Menkhorst2011" /> The finer range of measurements for the species are forearm length 26.5 to 31.4 mm, the head and body combined 35 to 43 mm, the tail is 26.5 to 34 mm, the length of the ear from notch at base to tip is 9 to 11 mm. The weight range is 3.6 to 7.0 grams for a mean figure of 4.8 grams.<ref name="Menkhorst2011" />
The size of the colony is recorded as a few individuals or larger groups of sixty bats cohabiting in a hollow or building.<ref name="Menkhorst2011" />
''Vespadelus baverstocki'' is morphologically similar to several other species, ''Vespadelus finlaysoni'', ''V. darlingtoni'' and ''V. vulturnus'', and difficult to distinguish from ''Vespadelus regulus''. The distinction in males may be determined by comparative morphology of the genitalia in captives, or the size and form of the baculum removed from that.<ref name="Queale1997" /> The diagnosis of this 'little brown bat' in the field is a forearm less than 32 mm and the fur a pale colour. The form of male genitalia will differentiate between other ''Vespadulus'', females are more difficult to distinguish when observed in the hand.<ref name="Menkhorst2011" /> The first description notes the greatest length of the skull as a range of 11.6 to 12.5 millimetres, giving a mean length of 12.1 mm, a feature the authors report as moderately long. The measurements of the body, in that comparative study of species then assigned to ''Eptesicus'', were also reported as moderate in length, a range of 36 to 44 mm resulting in a mean length of 40.0 mm; the wing measurements and tibia lengths were reported as relatively small.<ref name="Kitchener1987" />
==Distribution and habitat == A widely distributed inland species, ''Vespadelus baverstocki'' is found at the arid centre of the eastern states of Australia and an isolated population in the midwest of Western Australia.<ref name="Richards2012" /><ref name="Kitchener1987" /> The earlier records of the range indicate a contraction of a once continuous range.<ref name="Menkhorst2011" /> They occupy small cavities in rocky outcrops, leaving these to hunt and pursue insects. The habits are poorly known, but at least part of their diet is presumed to be moths.<ref name="Richards2012" /> They occupy narrowly accessible small hollows in small trees or old-growth timber. The habitat type may be in a variety of woodlands or shrublands in desert and arid regions.<ref name="AMfacts" /><ref name="Menkhorst2011" />
The inland range of ''Vespadelus baverstocki'' overlaps with a similar 'forest bat', the southern ''Vespadelus regulus'', and females are especially difficult to distinguish; this species is generally smaller and lighter in colour. The distinction from similar females of the little forest bat ''Vespadelus vulturnus'' in a superficial examination is darker and slightly larger.<ref name="Menkhorst2011" /> Threats include loss of habitat for roosts and foraging, the result of altered agricultural and forestry practices that degrade the local ecology.<ref name="AMfacts" />
==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name="Menkhorst2011">{{cite book |last1=Menkhorst |first1=P.W. |last2=Knight |first2=F. |author-link1=Peter Menkhorst |author2-link=Frank Knight |title=A field guide to the mammals of Australia |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Melbourne |isbn=978-0-19-557395-4 |page=146 |edition=3rd}}</ref> <ref name="AMfacts">{{cite web |title=Inland Forest Bat, Scientific name: ''Vespadelus baverstocki'' |url=https://australianmuseum.net.au/learn/animals/bats/inland-forest-bat/|website=The Australian Museum |access-date=31 December 2018 |language=en |date=2018-10-18}}</ref>
<ref name="Richards2012">{{cite book |last1=Richards |first1=G.C. |last2=Hall |first2=L.S. |last3=Parish |first3=S. (photography) |title=A natural history of Australian bats: working the night shift |date=2012 |publisher=CSIRO Pub |isbn=978-0-643-10374-0 |pages=18, 172}}</ref>
<ref name=MSW3>{{MSW3 Chiroptera | id = 13802300 | page = }}</ref>
<ref name="Queale1997">{{cite journal |last1=Queale |first1=L.F. |title=Field identification of female little brown bats ''Vespadelus'' Spp. (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) in South Australia |journal=Records of the South Australian Museum |date=1997 |volume=30 |issue=1997–1998 |pages=28–33 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40728192#page/32/mode/1up }}</ref>
<ref name="Jackson2015">{{cite book |last1=Jackson |first1=S.M. |last2=Groves |first2=C. |title=Taxonomy of Australian Mammals |date=2015 |publisher=Csiro Publishing |isbn=978-1-4863-0013-6 |page=640 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RPznCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA460 |language=en}}</ref>
<ref name="Kitchener1987">{{cite journal |last1=Kitchener |first1=D.J.|author1-link=Darrell Kitchener |last2=Jones |first2=B. |last3=Caputi |first3=N. |title=Revision of Australian Eptesicus (Microchiroptera: Vespertilionidae) |journal=Records of the Western Australian Museum |date=1987 |volume=13 |pages=427–500 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/244929 |issn=0312-3162}}</ref>
}}
==External links== *[https://www.museum.wa.gov.au/catalogues/digitised-types/vespertillionidae-vesadelus-baverstocki Image of the type specimen's skull] {{Vespertilionidae|V.|V.}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q305673}}
Category:Bats of Australia Category:Mammals of Western Australia Category:Mammals of South Australia Category:Mammals of the Northern Territory Category:Mammals of New South Wales Category:Mammals of Victoria (state) Category:Vespadelus Category:Mammals described in 1987 Category:Taxa named by Darrell Kitchener Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot