{{Short description|Species of bat}} {{Speciesbox | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=McKenzie, N. |author2=Lumsden, L.F. |author3=Milne, D.J. |date=2020 |title=''Vespadelus caurinus'' |volume=2020 |article-number=e.T7919A22114386 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-2.RLTS.T7919A22114386.en |access-date=19 November 2021}}</ref> | taxon = Vespadelus caurinus | authority = (Thomas, 1914)<ref name="Thomas1914" /> | synonyms = * ''Eptesicus caurinus'' }}
The '''northern cave bat''' ('''''Vespadelus caurinus''''') is a vesper bat that occurs throughout most of Australia.
== Description == A species of ''Vespadelus'', smaller insectivorous microbats, which are tiny in size and often dwell in caves. The weight range is {{cvt|2.3|to|4.2|g}}, with an average of {{cvt|3.1|g}}. The length of the forearm is {{cvt|27|to|32|mm}}, the head and body measure {{cvt|32|to|40|mm}}, the tail is {{cvt|24|to|35|mm}} long, the ear from base to tip is {{cvt|8|to|12|mm}} long. The fur colour is greyish brown, darker at the base and warmer brown at the rump.<ref name="Menkhorst2011" /> They are exceptionally agile in their flight capabilities.<ref name="Andrew2015" />
The birthing season of ''V. caurinus'' is around October to February, the austral summer, and they produce up to two young.<ref name="Menkhorst2011" />
== Taxonomy == The description was first published in 1914 by Oldfield Thomas, naming it as a species of genus ''Eptesicus''.<ref name="Thomas1914" /> ''Vespadelus caurinus'' is one of several species referred to cave vespadeluses.<ref name="Richards2012" />
Vernacular for ''V. caurinus'' include:, northern, little northern, or western cave bat and little brown bat.<ref name="Andrew2015" />
== Range and habitat == The species occurs in the monsoonal tropics of Australia from the Kimberly region of Western Australia, throughout the Top End of the Northern Territory and the lower Gulf of Carpentaria into north-western Queensland.<ref name="Churchill bats" /> They inhabit the inside of caves or boulder piles, beneath overhanging rocks, or occupying small crevices and cracks at cliff faces.<ref name="Richards2012" /> Some built structures are also exploited by ''Vespadelus caurinus'', abandoned mines and buildings and subterranean installations such as storm-water culverts.<ref name="Menkhorst2011" /> They are also known to occupy the nests of fairy martins, the bird species ''Petrochelidon ariel''.<ref name="Andrew2015" /> ''V. caurinus'' forages for insects in monsoonal forest and open woodland close to running water.
The species is one of many bats found near the northern city of Darwin. They occur at the Casuarina Coastal Reserve, inhabiting the observation posts installed during the second world war.<ref name="Richards2012" /> They are observed to cohabitat with other microbat species, the common sheathtail species ''Taphozous georgianus'' and dusky leaf-nosed species ''Hipposideros ater''.<ref name="Andrew2015" />
''Vespadelus caurinus'' superficially resembles the species ''Vespadelus douglasorum'', except for the larger size and tinges of yellow in the fur of that species; both species occur in the Kimberley region of the northwest. They may only be easily distinguished from ''Vespadelus finlaysoni'' by the locality, which do not overlap, or comparison of forearm length as less than 32 mm and usually smaller size overall; the second method of diagnosis is less certain as size ranges are variable in both species.<ref name="Menkhorst2011" />
== Conservation == ''Vespadelus caurinus'' is listed with the conservation status of least concern at state registers in the Northern Territory and in Queensland.<ref name="ALA" />
==References== {{Reflist|1|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=162 |edition=3rd}}</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=42, 43, 171}}</ref> <ref name="Churchill bats">[http://www.publish.csiro.au/pid/6129.htm], Churchill, S. (2009). Australian Bats. Second Edition. Allen and Unwin.</ref> <ref name="ALA">{{cite web |title=''Vespadelus caurinus'': Northern Cave Bat |url=https://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:biodiversity.org.au:afd.taxon:4d16de62-9c62-4af5-9b45-b60b34f22475 |website=Atlas of Living Australia |access-date=2 February 2019 |language=en-AU}}</ref> <ref name="Thomas1914">{{cite journal |last1=Thomas |first1=O. |title=New Asiatic and Australasian bats and a new bandicoot |journal=The Annals and Magazine of Natural History; Zoology, Botany, and Geology |date=1914 |volume=13 |issue=76 |pages=439–444 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/58356 |issn=0374-5481|doi=10.1080/00222931408693506 }}</ref> <ref name="Andrew2015">{{cite book |last1=Andrew |first1=D. |title=Complete Guide to Finding the Mammals of Australia. |date=2015 |publisher=CSIRO Publishing |isbn=978-0-643-09814-5 |page=336}}</ref> }}
{{Vespertilionidae|V.|V.}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q265064}}
Category:Bats of Australia Category:Vespadelus Category:Mammals of Western Australia Category:Mammals of the Northern Territory Category:Mammals of Queensland Category:Mammals described in 1914 Category:Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas