Rhinolophus stheno K. Andersen, 1905

Zhang, Libiao, Jones, Gareth, Zhang, Jinshuo, Zhu, Guangjian & Parsons, Stuart, 2009, Recent surveys of bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) from China. I. Rhinolophidae and Hipposideridae, Acta Chiropterologica 11 (1), pp. 71-88 : 80

Rhinolophus stheno K. Andersen, 1905

Lesser brown horseshoe bat

FA — 41.8–47.1 mm, mass — 10.3 ± 1.4 g (n = 6). Four males and three females were captured in Yunnan Province. These were the first records of R. stheno from China, and a detailed description was given in Zhang J. S. et al. (2005). The echolocation calls indicated that the FMAXE of R. stheno was about 87.2 kHz, while Robinson (1996) reported 85–90 kHz (FA 46 mm), and Kingston et al. (2000) documented 86.1 kHz (FA 48.8 mm), both in Malaysia.

Soisook et al. (2008) recently elevated R. microglobosus to species status and consider it distinct from R. stheno in Southeast Asia. Whereas R. stheno typically echolocates with FMAXE of 85–88 kHz, R. microglobosus calls at 92–101 kHz. Rhinolophus stheno had forearm lengths between 43.2–48.1 mm, whereas R. microglobosus was smaller on average (FA — 41.4–46.3 mm). Rhinolophus stheno was found in the Thai-Malaysian peninsular and central Vietnam, with R. microglobosus distributed further north, also in Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Lao PDR and hence closer to the border with China ( Soisook et al., 2008). Nonetheless, our echolocation call frequency measurements are consistent with the Chinese bats being R. stheno rather than R. microglobosus .

Ecological Notes

These records were the first for China: the bats were roosting in caves.