Mammals of the WorldBlyth's Horseshoe Bat
Rhinolophus lepidus
- Order
- Chiroptera
- Family
- Rhinolophidae
- Genus
- Rhinolophus
- IUCN status
- LC
- Distribution
- Uzbekistan|Kyrgyzstan|Afghanistan|Pakistan|India|Nepal|Bhutan?|Bangladesh|Myanmar|China|Thailand|Cambodia|Vietnam
- Realm
- Indomalaya|Palearctic
About this species
- Size
- Forearm about 42mm
- Diet
- Insects, caught in cluttered airspace
- Habitat
- From sea level to about 2,340m
- Range
- Afghanistan to Vietnam, including India
Blyth's horseshoe bat is widely distributed in South and Southeast Asia, from Afghanistan to Vietnam, including India, at elevations from sea level to about 2,340 m. The forearm is about 42 mm long, and the species can be identified by its pointed, bifid sella, part of the nose-leaf (Wikipedia, general species account).
It uses echolocation to navigate, flying in a fluttering style through cluttered airspace to find insect prey. The account notes that a population on Tioman Island, Malaysia, hunts in forest by day as well as night, possibly because there are no resident bird predators there; this is not an Indian record. It gives no roost or breeding information (Wikipedia, general species account).
Description: Wildlife of India guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com); general species information paraphrased from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)