224.

Beijing Barbastelle

Barbastella beijingensis

French: Barbastelle de Beijing / German: Peking-Mopsfledermaus / Spanish: Barbastela de Pekin

Other common names: Beijing \ Wide-eared bat Barbastelle

Taxonomy. Barbastella beijingensis Zhang Jinshuo et al., 2007,

“Darwin Bat Research and Conservation Center at San-Liu-Shui Village, Fangshan District, Southwest ern Beijing, China (30°43'N, 115°45’E), 407.8 m above sea level.”

This species is monotypic.

Distribution. Endemic to China, known only from the Beijing municipality.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 49.754.3 mm, tail 32.7- 47 mm, ear 13.1- 15.5 mm, forearm 41.1-46.4 mm; weight 10.5-13.9 g. Characterized by dark (blackish or brownish) fur, with paler tips on dorsum and lighter colors on ventral part. Muzzle is flat and short with obvious glandular swellings; long whiskers can be found sparsely distributed along lips. Ears squarish and wide, joined across forehead, with notches and projections at posterior margins and small, slender lobe protruding from outer edge of pinna; this lobe is more delicate and slenderer than in the Western Barbastelle ( B. barbastellus). Ears brown or black with obvious transverse ridges; tragus is long and pointed (triangular); ear morphology more similar to that of the Western Barbastelle than that of the Eastern Barbastelle ( B. darjelingensis), although skull is relatively larger, with condylo-canine length 14-2-14- 3 mm, and upper tooth row length 4-7- 4-9 mm. I* is bicuspid; I’ is remarkably small; and C' is slender with well-developed cingulum. As in congeners, P? is tiny and can be hidden behind C' and P*.

Habitat. Warm temperate-zone forest, including riparian vegetation in a mountainous ecosystem. Forests in which it is thought to forage comprise native species such as Chinese red pine ( Pinus tabuliformis, Pinaceae), Juniperus chinensis (Cupressaceae), and oaks ( Quercus mongolica and Q. liaotungensis, Fagaceae).

Food and Feeding. No information.

Breeding. No information.

Activity patterns. The species has only been found roosting in the cave where it was first captured, and also in an underground abandoned tunnel (c. 1 km long, 3-4 m high). Echolocation seems to be similar to that of the Western Barbastelle, although slightly lower in frequency, with two alternate pulses, one convex and the other concave, at different frequencies with interpulse interval of ¢.99 milliseconds. The two types of pulse differ in duration (c.8-2 milliseconds and c¢.5-1 milliseconds), start frequency (c.42-7 kHz and ¢.39-2 kHz), end frequency (c.25-1 kHz and ¢.26-8 kHz), and frequency of maximum energy (c.39-4 kHz and ¢.32-1 kHz).

Movements, Home range and Social organization. The species sharesits roosting cave with the Greater Japanese Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus nippon), Rickett’s Big-footed Myotis ( Myotis pilosus), Lesser Myotis ( M. blythii), and an unidentified tube-nosed bat (Murinasp.).

Status and Conservation. Not assessed on The IUCN Red List. Believed to be locally rare, but due to its recent description there has been no proper population assessment, so its conservation status remains poorly evaluated.

Bibliography. Benda & Mlikovsky (2008), Zhang Jinshuo et al. (2007), Zhang Libiao, Zhu Guangjian et al. (2009).