Hipposideros brachyotus ( Dobson, 1874 )

Srinivasulu, Bhargavi, Kusuminda, Tharaka, Srinivasulu, Aditya, Ukuwela, Kanishka D. B., Amarasinghe, Chamara, Siriwardana, Sahan, Kaur, Harpreet, Mannakkara, Amani, Soisook, Pipat, Kamalakannan, Manokaran, Yapa, Wipula Bandara & Srinivasulu, Chelmala, 2025, Taxonomic revision of the South Asian allies of Hipposideros galeritus Cantor, 1846, Zootaxa 5590 (4), pp. 507-530 : 517-520

Hipposideros brachyotus ( Dobson, 1874)

Phyllorhina brachyota Dobson, 1874

Hipposideros galeritus brachyotus ( Dobson, 1874)

Phyllorhina galerita Dobson, 1876

Hipposideros galeritus Blanford, 1888

Hipposideros brachyotus Wroughton, 1913

Hipposideros galeritus brachyotus Tate, 1941

Holotype: NHMUK ZD 1909.1 .4.70 Phyllorhina brachyota , Central India, Staff Surgeon F.P. Staples; skull extracted; in good condition.

Other material: NHMOU.CHI.54.2016 ; NHMOU.CHI.7.2014 ; NHMOU.CHI.31.2014, NHMOU. CHI.32.2014 ; NHMOU.CHI.35.2014 ; NHMOU.CHI.1.2003; ZSI 20551, ZSI 20552

Diagnosis: A medium-sized bat with a forearm length ranging between 45.6–49.6 mm. Ears triangular. The noseleaf is broad, with two pairs of supplementary leaflets. The posterior leaf has three septa, clearly divided into four cells. Skull short, condylo-canine length 14.73 ± 0.33 mm. Maxillary toothrow (CM 3) 5.4–6.3 mm. The first upper premolar (PM 2) minute is wedged between the canine and PM 4, sometimes extruded or in toothrow. First lower premolar (PM 2) half the height of PM 4, one-fourth the height of the canine. The baculum is small, with a slightly broader base and slender shaft ending with a blunt tip, faintly curved in lateral view.

External characters: A medium-sized hipposiderid with an average forearm length of 47.17 ± 1.33 mm (45.6– 49.6 mm). Ears are short (12.94 ± 1.81 mm; 10.0– 15.3 mm), wider at the base, with thick fur covering half the height of the pinna on the dorsal surface ( Figure 6 ). Tip narrowly pointed and long. The outer border of the pinna shows concavity just before the tip. The inner border is covered with thick hair except for the apical region. Eight transverse ridges present on the outer border of the pinna. The noseleaf is broad, covers the entire muzzle and is greyish-brown ( Figure 6 ). The anterior leaf is broader than the posterior and intermediate leaves. Just below the anterior leaf, two pairs of supplementary leaflets are present; the second pair of supplementary leaflets is slightly longer than the first pair ( Figure 6 ). The internarial septum is located between nares and does not touch the intermediate leaf; it is roughly triangular and ends with a blunt tip. Nares are transverse and long with well-developed narial lappets on the sides of the nares. The intermediate leaf is thick, with concavity toward the middle, and is shorter than the anterior and posterior leaves. The posterior leaf has three septa, dividing it into four distinct cells. Wing and interfemoral membrane attached on either side of the ankle. In the wing, both the third and fourth metacarpals are almost equal, while 5 th metacarpal is shorter than 3 rd and 4 th metacarpals. The first and second phalanges are 41.1% and 52.3% of the third metacarpal respectively.

Craniodental Characters: Skull is small and delicate with an average greatest total length of 17.36 ± 0.27 mm (17.0– 17.69 mm). Sagittal crest is low, slightly pronounced in the frontal region but not so through the rest of its length and extends up to the parietal region ( Figure 7A ). The lambdoid crests are not well developed. The Interorbital region is narrow. Rostrum is bulged, with four well-developed nasal inflations; the bottom one is the largest, and the median one is thin and almost dumbbell-shaped, nasal inflations are kidney-shaped and located on either side of the rostrum ( Figure 7B ). Zygoma are robust and lack dorsal process ( Figure 7A ). Upper incisors are simple, small and bicuspidate ( Figure 7E ). Canines are robust and tall. The first upper premolar (PM 2) is minute, slightly extruded from the toothrow, wedged between the second upper premolar (PM 4) and the canine, and in contact with PM 4 ( Figure 7A ). Metastyle of all three upper molars is well developed; paracone of M 1 is slightly longer than metacone; in M 2 paracone and metacone are equal in length. Hypoconal flange is well-developed in all three upper molars but not touching each other or PM 4. Mesostyle and commissures are thick. Protocone of both M 1 and M 2 is well-developed. In M 3, however, the metastyle and the hypoconal flange are lacking. Canines of the lower toothrow are delicate and tall ( Figure 7C ). The first and second lower premolars (PM 2 and PM 4) are not in contact. The second premolar is one-third the height of the canine and half the height of the fourth premolar. Two pairs of tricuspidate lower incisors are present in a single line ( Figure 7F ).

Pelage color: Fur is dark brown to fawn on the dorsal surface. Around the muzzle the fur is darker and colored similar to the dorsal surface. On the head, hairs have pale bases with fawn tips. The area under the face is similarly colored as the head, while the belly hairs are off-white. Wing and interfemoral membranes are dark and hairless with fur of the body not extending onto the interfemoral membrane.

Baculum structure: The baculum is simple, and small (0.7 mm; n=1) with a slightly wide base, and a slender shaft ending with a bluntly rounded tip ( Figure 4A ). Laterally, the shaft shows a slight concavity.

Common name: Dobson’s Leaf-nosed Bat

Ecology: This species is rare in comparison to other leaf-nosed bats. It has been observed to roost in small colonies of 2–3 to up to 10 individuals, or sometimes singly. It roosts in narrow caves located on the top of hills, among large boulders, old disused rooms of houses, and old disused temples, mines, dungeons, or even in cracks in the walls of houses ( Khajuria 1980; present study).

Distribution: India — Maharashtra: Ajanta and Ellora caves, Bedsar caves, Chikalda, Shivthatghal near Mahad, and Kanheri caves. Karnataka: Avani, Badami, Honawar, Lingsugur, Shivagange, and Ukkarahalli.

Kerala: Alampara forest cave, Veliangad. Telangana: Akkamahadevibilam. Andhra Pradesh: Donkarai. Odisha: Badudi Pahad, Hadgarh Wildlife Sanctuary, Hemagiri, Khandadhar, Koilighogar, Gupteswar caves, Similipal Biosphere Reserve, and Sunabeda Wildlife Sanctuary. Gujarat: Danta, Palanpur, Tera Mines, and Jambugoda Wildlife Sanctuary. Madhya Pradesh: Gwarighat, Jabalpur, and Kanha National Park. Bihar: Singar. Bangladesh: Chittagong, Dhaka, and Sylhet ( Bates & Harrison 1997; Debta & Palita 2017; Ghosh 2008; Srinivasulu 2004; Srinivasulu & Srinivasulu 2005, 2017) ( Figure 1 ).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Distribution range of H. galeritus sensu lato depicting the range of H. brachyotus (in light blue) and the type locality (blue circle), the range of H. srilankaensis sp. nov. (in light red) and the type locality (red circle), and the range of H. galeritus (grey) and the type locality (black circle).

FIGURE 4. Baculum (dorsal view) of A—H. brachyotus (NHMOU.CHI.7.2014), B—H. srilankaensis sp. nov. (NMSL2023.08.01NH), and C—H. galeritus (PSUZC-MM2005.66). Scale: 1mm.

FIGURE 6. View of the head of the Dobson’s Leaf-nosed Bat Hipposideros brachyotus (NHMOU.CHI.54.2016, male, Alampara Forest Cave, Kozhikode Dist., Kerala, India) depicting noseleaf and ears.

FIGURE 7. Skull and mandible of Hipposideros brachyotus (NHMOU.CHI.7.2014, male, Donkarai, East Godavari Dist., Andhra Pradesh, India). Scale: 5mm. [A—lateral view of skull; B—dorsal view of skull; C—lateral view of mandible; D— dorsal view of mandible; E—frontal view of skull; and F—frontal view of mandible].