269.

Lesser Asiatic Yellow Bat

Scotophilus kuhlii

French: Scotophile de Kuhl / German: Kleine Asiatische Hausfledermaus / Spanish: Scotofilo de Kuhl

Other common names: Asiatic Lesser Yellow House Bat, Lesser Asian House Bat, Lesser Asiatic Yellow House Bat

Taxonomy. Scotophilus kuhlii Leach, 1821,

India.

Genetic data placed S. kuhlii sister to all other species of Scotophilus and completely separate from the widespread Asiatic species, S. heathii . Seven subspecies ( kuhlii, castaneus, consobrinus, gairdneri, panayensis, solutatus, and temminckii) have been recognized, but some names have been moved back and forth between S. kuhlii and S. heathii, and there 1s no well-defined distribution for any subspecies. Monotypic.

Distribution. NE & SE Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, SE Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, SC & SE China (Yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Fujian) including Hainan, Taiwan, and Pescadores Is, Thailand, Laos, Vietham (including Cat Ba I), Cambodia, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, Bali, Sulawesi, and Philippines.

Descriptive notes. Head—-body 54:8-82- 1 mm,tail 31- 3-65 mm, ear 7- 4-17 mm, hindfoot 8-13- 8 mm, forearm 44-56- 4 mm; weight 12-5-30- 3 g. The Lesser Asiatic Yellow Bat is very similar but smaller than the Greater Asiatic Yellow Bat (S. heathii), being distinguished primarily by its smaller forearm length (usually less than 55 mm) and weight. Dorsal pelage is chestnut-brown; venter is lighter buffy to buffy yellow. Membranes and bare skin are dark brown. Muzzle is broad and blunt and has swollen glands on both sides and simple nostrils. Ears are small, with transverse ridges; antitragus is separated from posterior margin of ear by distinct notch and well developed; tragus is one-half the ear length and is crescent-shaped with basal notch. Tail extends c. 2-3 mm past margin of uropatagium. Baculum is small and bluntly triangular in dorsal view but very thin in lateral view, and base is barely bulged; it is similar to that of the Greater Asiatic Yellow Bat, although it appears to be thicker in lateral view with a more dorso-ventrally expanded base. Skull measurements are similar to but smaller than those of the Greater Asiatic Yellow Bat, but lambdoidal crests are undeveloped and do not protrude back and upward; condylo-canine lengths are 16- 3-18 mm. Dental formula for all species of Scotophilusis11/3,C1/1,P 1/2, M 3/3 (x2) = 30, except perhaps for the Lesser Yellow Bat (S. borbonicus) that is known from one specimen in very poor condition. Chromosomal complement has 2n = 36 and FN = 48 or 52.

Habitat. Primary and secondary habitats in rural and urban settings, including primary and secondary tropical and subtropical forests, agricultural areas, plantations, and villages from sea level up to elevations of ¢. 1100 m (typically lowland habitats).

Food and Feeding. Lesser Asiatic Yellow Bats forage by aerial hawking and are fast and maneuverable fliers. They primarily forage in open and semi-open habitats, including crowns of trees in urban environments, around streetlights, overfields, and over water. On Hainan, annual diets contained Lepidoptera (97-5% by frequency), Coleoptera (64-7%), Hemiptera (20%), Hymenoptera (9-4%), and Diptera (5-5%), with only small fluctuations in frequency throughoutthe year. Diptera ( Anisopodidae, Chironomidae, Culicidae, and Scathophagidae), Coleoptera ( Carabidae and Scarabaeidae), and Hymenoptera (Ichneumonidae) were recorded in the feces of 10-12 individuals in Andhra Pradesh, eastern India.

Breeding. Lesser Asiatic Yellow Bats breed once a year. Pregnant females are known from March—July in Bangalore, south-central India, and gestation lasts 105-115 days in India. In Bihar, northern India, pregnant females were collected in April-May. They gave birth to 1-2 young in June-July. Postnatal development was rapid, with forearm length and weight increasing rapidly and linearly during the first four weeks, gradually decreasing to reach a stable growth rate. Young begin to fly, on average, at 39 days old.

Activity patterns. Lesser Asiatic Yellow Bats arouse early in the evening compared with other sympatric bats. They spend the day roosting in roofs of houses, leaves of palm tree, tree hollows, and occasionally caves. Call shape is FM sweep, with multiple harmonics. Males and females on Hainan had average start frequencies of 88-7 kHz and 89-4 kHz (overall range 64-2-104-5 kHz), average end frequencies of 37-9 kHz and 38-1 kHz (12-8-42.7 kHz), average peak frequencies of 45-7 kHz and 45-8 kHz (39-9-51-4 kHz), average durations of 5-1 milliseconds and 5-4 milliseconds (2:9-14-1 milliseconds), and average interpulse intervals of 46-8 milliseconds and 43 milliseconds (13-1-127-4 milliseconds), respectively. In Singapore, average start frequency was 84-9 kHz, average end frequency was 36-6 kHz, average peak frequency was 43-3 kHz, and average duration was 4 milliseconds. In the Western Ghats, India, in two separate studies with three and two samples, average start frequency was 117-4 kHz (107-5-126-7 kHz) and 56-7 kHz (52:4-61-3 kHz), average end frequency was 41 kHz (40-2-41-4 kHz) and 43-5 kHz (42-1-44-9 kHz), average peak frequency was 52-8 kHz (47-8-56-9 kHz) and 45-3 kHz (44-47 kHz), and average duration was 3-2 milliseconds (2:7-3-7 milliseconds) and 3 milliseconds (2:2-3-5 milliseconds), respectively.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. Lesser Asiatic Yellow Bats roost in colonies of a few individuals to a few hundred, with colonies of 300 bats found in Sri Lanka. Males and females seem to roost together year-round. Colonies are characterized by an unpleasant smell. In Peninsular Malaysia, home ranges of males were larger in agricultural areas (mean of 1-2 km?) than urban areas (0-03 km?), but this relationship was reversed for females (0-35 km? vs. 0-72 km?).

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. The Lesser Asiatic Yellow Bat is widespread and common and does not seem to face any major threats. It might be locally threatened by roost disturbance and is eaten as an aphrodisiac in north-eastern Luzon, Philippines. In Cambodia, free-ranging individuals are farmed for guano with artificial roosts made from palm leaves, providing income for local farms.

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