80.

Corben’s Long-eared Bat

Nyctophilus corbeni

French: Nyctophile de Corben / German: Corben-Langohrfledermaus / Spanish: Nictofila de Corben

Other common names: South-eastern Long-eared Bat

Taxonomy. Nyctophilus corbeni Parnaby, 2009,

“Old Coghill Track, 0.7 km east of junction with track to main Gilgai Waterhole; formerly Gilgai Flora Reserve, Pilliga East State Forest, New South Wales. Approximate altitude 235 m. Coordinates obtained from a Garmin GPS are 30° 29' 58"S, 149° 20' 53"E. ”

Nyctophilus corbeni is in the major species group, closely related to N. major . Nyctophilus corbeni along with N. major, N. sherrini, and N. shirleyae were Pacvioly included under N. timoriensis, but they were recently recognized as distinct species, and the name timoriensis is now regarded as a species inquirenda. Monotypic.

Distribution. SE Queensland, New South Wales, NW Victoria, and SE South Australia.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 50-75 mm,tail 35-54 mm,ear 24-3-29-3 mm, forearm 39-49-5 mm; weight 11-2-15-5 g (males) and 14-3-21 g (females). Males weigh considerably less than females. Corben’s Long-eared Bat has very large ears and unique simple noseleaf consisting of two ridges, one further on muzzle and another immediately above nostrils, with vertical groove in middle and furred trough between them. Dorsal pelage is medium grayish brown; venteris paler, with whitish throat. Rostrum, ears, and wing membranesare dark brown. Rostrum is short and blunt, with ridge across muzzle over nostrils that is low, broad, and withoutvertical groove. Ears are very large and broad, with bluntly rounded tip, horizontal ribbing on inner surfaces, inward curved anterior edges, and smooth posterior edges (ears can fold back at top of thick part of anterior edge); large and furred interauricular band crosses forehead between ears; tragus is small and bluntly rounded at tip, being convex on anterior margin. Glans penis has comparatively large urethral lappets, and distal part is simple and lacks any protrusions. Baculum is 4-5-5-7 mm long, with moderately thin shaft that constricts right beforetip in dorsal view; tip has very small notch in dorsal view, and base is strongly bifurcated;in lateral view, baculum is curved downward at base, but shaft is straight to narrowed tip. Skull is robust and broader than in the Western Long-eared Bat (NV. major) and the Tasmanian Long-eared Bat (N. sherrini); rostrum is short, broad, and robust; braincase is broad, zygomatic arches are more rounded than in the Western Long-eared Bat, and palate is shorter; sagittal and lambdoidal crests are moderately developed; and M? and lower molars are extremely reduced.

Habitat. Wide variety of habitats, such as river red gum, black box, Allocasuarina (Casuarinaceae), belah, mallee, open woodlands, and savannas. Corben’s LLong-eared Bats are most common in black box, ironbark, and cypress open forests and buloke woodlands in New South Wales and are restricted to tall mallee shrublands in South Australia. They are recorded from semi-evergreen vine thickets, inland dry sclerophyll forests with Corymbia citriodora ( Myrtaceae) and ironbark, open forests with grass trees, Callitris (Cupressaceae) forest, mixed eucalypt forest, and poplar box open forest in Queensland. They generally prefer forests with dense and cluttered understory and distinct canopy.

Food and Feeding. Corben’s L.ong-eared Bats forage aerially for insects and have been observed flying high and then swooping nearly to the ground to catch prey. They are highly maneuverable fliers and change direction often and quickly, usually flying high in canopies and foraging near cluttered vegetation. Corben’s LLong-eared Bats eat a wide variety of insect prey, but moths dominated overall year-round diet in New South Wales.

Breeding. Pregnant Corben’s Long-eared Bats have been captured in early November, and males with enlarged testes and epididymides have been found in February-April and November in Queensland. In early November, a female with one newborn was captured, and lactating females were recorded in mid-December. Post-lactating females were recorded in late December.

Activity patterns. Corben’s Long-eared Bats are nocturnal and roost by day in hollows in trunks of live trees, occasionally in fissures in branches and under dried sheets of bark on trunks of ring-barked trees. They roost in various trees, such as Casuarina pauper (Casuarinaceae), Myoporum platycarpum ( Scrophulariaceae), and the kong mallee ( Eucalyptus gracilis, Myrtaceae). Roosts are usually less than 3 m aboveground, with multiple entrances ¢.5-10 cm wide. Call shapeis very steep FM sweep that cannot be easily differentiated from other species of Nyctophilus .

Movements, Home range and Social organization. Corben’s LLong-eared Bats generally roost in small groups or alone. A maternity colony with less than ten individuals was reported in New South Wales that switched roosts often, changing between hollows and fissures.

Status and Conservation. Not assessed on The IUCN Red List. Corben’s Long-eared Batis widespread butis likely threatened by habitat destruction and fragmentation of preferred forest habitat and increased fire frequency and intensity. It is considered vulnerable under the Australian Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 because it appears to be threatened by deforestation, habitat fragmentation, introduced predators, roost disturbance, and climate change.

Bibliography. Calaby (1966), Churchill (2008), Dominelli (2000), Ellis & Turbill (2002), Law et al. (2016), Parnaby (1987, 2009), Reardon & Flavel (1991), Schulz & Lumsden (2010), Smales & Koehler (2005), Turbill & Ellis (2006).