Mirostrellus joffrei (Thomas, 1915)

Saikia, Uttam, Chakravarty, Rohit, Csorba, Gabor, Laskar, Mostaque Ahmed & Ruedi, Manuel, 2025, Taxonomic reassessment of bats from the Western Himalayas, India and description of a new species of the Myotis frater complex (Mammalia, Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae), Zootaxa 5644 (1), pp. 1-78 : 31-32

15. Mirostrellus joffrei (Thomas, 1915)

(Joffre’s Pipistrelle)

New material: 1 M, 06.04.2021, Mandal village, Chamoli District , Uttarakhand, V /M/ERS/ 650 .

Morphological description of specimen: This was a small bat with a forearm length of about 38 mm. It had a glossy, dark brown dorsal pelage with a slight reddish tinge and the ventral fur was light golden brown with a sharp demarcation between these two colours. Dorsal hairs had darker roots and lighter tips while the ventral hairs were uniformly coloured throughout their length. Wings and patagium were dark brown and naked, except for the region closer to the body. The sides of the muzzle between nostrils and eyes were characteristically swollen with a few long vibrissae. The ears were broad and short with rounded tip and roughly matching a right triangle in lateral profile. The tragus was short and rounded, with a basal lobe, inner margin concave and the outer margin convex. The wing membrane attached to the mid metatarsus and a small unkeeled calcar lobe was present. The two terminal caudal vertebrae projected out of the membrane.

The skull was stout with a short rostrum and bulbous braincase, with traces of occipital and sagittal crest present. Supraorbital processes were large and directed sideways. The first incisor was bifid, the second was also bifid and reached about two third the length of the first. In frontal view, the canines were divergent. Lower molars were myotodont.

DNA: no biological material was obtained from this species.

Locality records and ecological notes: Uttarakhand: Mandal village (1500 m), Chamoli district ( Chakravarty et al. 2020; present study). Individuals were caught flying over an open stream at the edge of an oak forest. The current specimen was collected at a shaded stream in the same spot described in Chakravarty et al. (2020). It has not been recorded from any other part of Western Himalayas, although not uncommon in Mandal area.

Taxonomic note: See Görföl et al. (2020) for the correct generic classification of Mi. joffrei , which used to be included within Pipistrellus (e.g., Bates & Harrison 1990) or Hypsugo (e.g., Saikia et al. 2017).