62.

Yellow-lipped Cave Bat

Vespadelus douglasorum

French: Vespertilion des Douglas / German: Gelblippen-Waldfledermaus / Spanish: Vespadela de Douglas

Other common names: Kimberley Cave Bat, Yellow-lipped Bat

Taxonomy. Eptesicus douglasi [sic] Kitchener, 1976,

“Tunnel Creek, Napier Range, Western Australia (17°37'S, 125°09'E),” Australia.

Vespadelus seems to be sister to a clade including Chalinolobus and Nyctophilus . The specific name was originally given as “douglas?” but was emended to “ douglasorum ” by D. J. Kitchener and colleagues in 1987 as the taxon name was dedicated to both Mr. and Mrs. Douglas. As currently constituted, V. douglasorum may comprise more than one species. Monotypic.

Distribution. W Kimberley region of N Western Australia along with a few offshore Is (including Adolphus, Augustus, Bigge, Boongaree, Middle Osborn, Storr, and Wulalam).

Descriptive notes. Head-body 35-3-43-5 mm, tail 35-2—42-1 mm, ear 11-3-12-5 mm, forearm 34-3-37-8 mm; weight 4-5-6-1 g. Dorsal pelage is pale gray to olive buff, whereas ventral pelage is somewhat paler; there is generally a deep yellow to orange tinge to fur around mouth, head, shoulders, feet, and forearms; amount ofyellow or orange on body varies largely throughout the year. Face is mostly naked and similarly pale cinnamon to orange buff. Face has larger glandular swellings than in Northern Cave Bat (V. caurinus). Ears are small and rounded triangular with a smoothly convex anterior edge; tragusis narrow, anteriorly straight or slightly concave, posteriorly convex, and with a rounded tip and slight posterobasal lobe. Wings and uropatagium are brown; uropatagium extends to tip of tail and is sparsely haired on proximal two-thirds. Glans penishas laterally compressed and rod-shaped head; dorsal surface has deep longitudinal groove, and ventral surface is covered in a number of small spines; urethra is covered by narrow strip of skin projecting upward from ventral tip. Baculum is moderately long (mean 3-2 mm) with rod-shaped shaft,slightly bifurcated base, and bow shape in lateral view. Skull is moderately long; lambdoidalcrest is weakly to moderately developed; anterior narial notch is generally V-shaped, occasionally U-shaped; rostrum is short. I? is bicuspid and I? is unicuspid; P* is much smaller than C' and within tooth row; crista linking base of metacone and hypocone on M' is moderate, and slight to large on M2 Dental formula for species of Vespadelusis12/3,C 1/1, P1/2,M 3/3 (x2) = 32,

Habitat. Found in tropical woodlands, often captured along waterways lined by Melaleuca (Myrtaceae) and Pandanus (Pandanaceae), and in adjacent open woodland. All known recordsof the species are in regions with high rainfall (over 800 mmyear).

Food and Feeding. No information.

Breeding. Pregnant females have been recorded in June, August, October, and November, and births in November and December. Litter size seems to be one.

Activity patterns. Yellow-lipped Cave Bats are often found roosting in caves in limestone regions. They enter a torpid state during the day while roosting. Call shape is FM/QCF with a peak frequency recorded at 52-8 kHz. Average peak frequency was recorded at 51-2 kHz and the call duration at 5-13 milliseconds.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. Yellow-lipped Cave Bats form mixed-sex colonies of up to 200 individuals. A colony with twelve individuals was found roosting in an abandoned building. Torpid individuals have been observed roosting in small clusters of 4-6 individuals in both cool and dry conditions at 20°C and 33% humidity in July; they were not close to the opening but in the same cave, there were more alert individuals deeper in the cave at 27°C and 48% humidity. This cave was shared with Orange Diamond-faced Bats (Rhinonicteris aurantia), which were even further into the cave. The species occasionally shares caves with the Northern Cave Bat, the Dusky Leat-nosed Bat ( Hipposideros ater), and the Common Sheath-tailed Bat (Taphozous georgianus).

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. The Yellowlipped Cave Bat is found in a remote region of Australia, which limits persecution due to human interaction. Burning for fire management may represent the greatest threat, as it can reduce habitat quality at specific localities. Overall, the speciesis rare and seldom recorded.

Bibliography. Armstrong (2011), Armstrong & Kitchener (2008), Armstrong, Burbidge & Woinarski (2017), Churchill (2008), Kitchener (1976b), Kitchener et al. (1987), McKenzie & Bullen (2012).