200.

Japanese Serotine

Eptesicus japonensis

French: Sérotine du Japon / German: Japan-Breitflligelfledermaus / Spanish: Eptesicus de Japon

Other common names: Japanese Northern Bat, Japanese Short-tailed Bat

Taxonomy. Eptesicus japonensis Imaizumi, 1953,

Hokujé6-Mura (Shinden), 720 m, Kita-Azumi-Gun, Nagano Prefecture, Central Honshu, Japan.

Eptesicus japonensis is occasionally treated as a synonym or subspecies of E. nilssona, but it is typically recognized as distinct. Monotypic.

Distribution. C Honshu, Japan along with Hegurajima, although this was likely a vagrant individual.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 54-68 mm, tail 35-43 mm, ear 13-16-5 mm, hindfoot 8:7-11-5 mm, forearm 38-41-5 mm. Fur of the Japanese Serotine is soft, silky, and glossy. Dorsal pelage is dark blackish brown (hairs either unicolored or with buffy tips); ventral pelage is light yellowish brown, with deep golden brown collar behind ears and anterior to thorax. Bare face, ears, and membranes are dark blackish brown. Ears are comparatively short, with rounded tips; tragusis short, less than one-half the ear length, and broadest at base, with straight anterior border, gently convex posterior border, and sharp basal lobe. Wings are attached at base of toes, and tail tip extends a little past uropatagium. Skull is flattened and robust; rostrum is broad and flattened, with shallow but conspicuous concavities on central and lateral regions; and condylobasal lengths are 14:9-15-8 mm. Teeth are large and robust; I* is bicuspid and about one-half the height of C'; M' and M? are subequal in crown area; M” is less than onehalf the crown area of M'; lower incisors are imbricated; and lower molars are myotodont. Chromosomal complement has 2n = 50 and FNa = 48.

Habitat. Temperate forests and human habituated areas mostly at elevations above 700 m and rarely near sea level.

Food and Feeding. No information.

Breeding. In Noriguki Highland, Nagano prefecture, up to 200 pregnant Japanese Serotines formed a maternity colony in June.

Activity patterns. The Japanese Serotine typically roosts in tree hollows, but there are some reports from buildings.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. Japanese Serotines probably typically roost alone or in small groups.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Endangered on The IUCN Red List. The Japanese Serotine is known only from a limited number of records in a relatively small distribution. Very little is known aboutits ecology and threats, but it is probably threatened by human disturbance, especially at roostsites in buildings. This is exacerbated by habitat destruction that pushes them from preferred tree hollow roosts to buildings.

Bibliography. Abe et al. (2005), Ando et al. (1977), Koyanagi et al. (2007), Maeda et al. (1992), Ohdachi et al. (2009), Yoshiyuki (1989).