46.

Watts’s Pipistrelle

Pipustrellus wattsi

French: Pipistrelle de Watts / German: \Watts-Zwergfledermaus / Spanish: Pipistrela de Watts

Taxonomy. Pipistrellus watts: Kitchener, Caputi & B. Jones, 1986,

“Iepala, Papua New Guinea (8°05’S, 146°12’E).”

Specimens attributed to P. wattsi were originally included under P. tenuis and P. papuanus until it was described. Monotypic.

Distribution. SE Papua New Guinea and Samarai I.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 34-5-40-7 mm, tail 19-4-28-5 mm, ear 9-4— 11: 9 mm, hindfoot 5-4-8-1 mm, forearm 28-32-8 mm; weight 3-4 g (one specimen). Dorsal of Watts’s Pipistrelle pelage is dark blackish brown (bone-brown tipped and black basal two-thirds of hair); ventral pelage is buffier, with black-based hairs and pinkish buff tips. Uropatagium is lightly furred and pinkish buff around venation. Wings below humerus are heavily furred, with pinkish buff hairs. Ears are more rounded and less triangular than in other Papuan pipistrelles; tragus is ¢.50% the height of ear and has larger basal lobe, with more convex posterior edge. Glans penis and baculum are very similar to that of the Forest Pipistrelle ( P. adamsi). Skull is small and fragile but similar to that of the Forest Pipistrelle in overall shape and structure; braincase is wide; sagittal crest is absent; lambdoidal crest is weak; zygomatic arches are weak; I* is bicuspid, and I’ is unicuspid and subequal to second cusp of I; P? is subequalto I’ in surface area and is within tooth row; and lower molars are nyctalodont.

Habitat. Coastal lowlands and urban areas from sea level to elevations up to ¢. 200 m.

Food and Feeding. Watts’s Pipistrelle is insectivorous.

Breeding. Seven reproductively active females were captured in February-March.

Activity patterns. Watts’s Pipistrelle is nocturnal and leaves roosts around dusk.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. Watts’s Pipistrelle has been recorded in colonies of 20 or fewer individuals in ceilings of houses.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. Although Watts’s Pipistrelle seems to have a rather restricted distribution, it does not seem to face any major threats. It also seems tolerant to human activities and has only really been recorded in urban areas.

Bibliography. Bonaccorso (1998), Bonaccorso & Pennay (2008), Flannery (1995a, 1995b), Hill & Harrison (1987), Kitchener et al. (1986).