Vespertilionidae

Round-eared tube-nosed bat Murina cyclotis, photographed by Pipat Soisook.

Belongs within: Chiroptera.
Contains: Kerivoulinae, Vespertilioninae, Myotis, Miniopterus, Natalidae.

The Vespertilionidae, vesper bats, are a cosmopolitan and speciose family of bats. Members of the family have a fairly generalised external appearance, but a distinctly derived wing structure with a greatly reduced ulna and only two bony phalanges present in the third finger (Miller 1907).

Characters (from Miller 1907): Humerus with trochiter very noticeably larger than trochin and projecting distinctly beyond head, its surface of articulation on scapula decidedly more than half as large as glenoid fossa, distinctly concave and sharply outlined, epitrochlea obsolete, capitellum scarcely out of line with shaft; ulna usually fused with radius at head, shaft reduced to a scarcely ossified fibrous strand; second finger with fully developed metacarpal and one small bony phalanx; third finger with three phalanges, of which the distal is cartilaginous throughout except at extreme base, where distinct joint is formed with middle phalanx ; shoulder girdle strictly normal in its general structure, the seventh cervical vertebra free; presternum small, with forward-projecting, variously developed median lobe, mesosternum flat and scarcely keeled, usually slender; foot normal; fibula thread-like, complete or with upper extremity cartilaginous, extending to head of tibia; pelvis normal, boundaries of sacral vertebrae distinct, ischia widely separated posteriorly, symphysis pubis in males; lumbar vertebrae free; skull without postorbital processes; premaxillaries without palatal branches, palate widely emarginate anteriorly; palate abruptly narrowed behind toothrows, the sides of its posterior extension parallel or nearly so; teeth usually normal, though in a few genera showing a tendency to reduction of cusps; ears usually though not invariably separate, anterior border with distinct basal lobe; tragus usually well developed, simple; muzzle without distinct leaf-like outgrowths; tail well developed, extending to edge of wide interfemoral membrane.

<==Vespertilionidae [Vespertilioneae, Vespertiliones, Vespertilionina]
    |  i. s.: Scoteanax Troughton 1943 HM98, R64
    |           `--*S. rueppellii (Peters 1866) [=Nycticejus rueppellii] R64
    |         Scotorepens Troughton 1943 LA02, R64
    |           |--*S. orion (Troughton 1937) [=Scoteinus orion] R64
    |           |    |--S. o. orion R64
    |           |    `--‘Scoteinus’ o. aquilo Troughton 1937 R64
    |           |--S. balstoni R64
    |           |    |--S. b. balstoni R64
    |           |    `--S. b. caprenus Troughton 1937 R64
    |           |--S. greyii MF05
    |           `--S. sanborni MF05
    |         Nyctophilinae [Nyctophilini] KJ70
    |           |--Lamingtona lophorhina KJ70, BP87 [=Nyctophilus lophorhina BP87]
    |           |--Pharotis imogene KJ70, BP87
    |           `--Nyctophilus Leach 1822 [incl. Barbastellus Gray 1831] M07
    |                |--*N. geoffroyi M07, LA02
    |                |--N. arnhemensis Johnson 1959 R64
    |                |--N. bifax MF05
    |                |--N. gouldi G66
    |                |--N. heran IT07
    |                |--N. howensis McKean 1975 M75
    |                |--N. microdon IT07
    |                |--N. microtis M07
    |                |--N. timoriensis M75 [=Plecotus timoriensis M07]
    |                `--N. walkeri M07
    |         Vespadelus Troughton 1943 LA02, R64
    |           |--*V. pumilus (Gray 1841) [=Scotophilus pumilus] R64
    |           |--V. caurinus MF05
    |           `--V. finlaysoni MF05
    |         Falsistrellus Troughton 1943 LA02, R64
    |           `--*F. tasmaniensis (Gould 1858) [=Vespertilio tasmaniensis] R64
    |         Registrellus Troughton 1943 R64
    |           `--*R. regulus (Thos. 1906) [=Pipistrellus regulus] R64
    |         Idionycteris phyllotis IT07
    |--Murininae ST01
    |    |--Harpiocephalus Gray 1842 [=Harpyiocephalus Gray 1866] M07
    |    |    `--H. harpia [=Vespertilio harpia; incl. Ocypetes cavernarum, *Harpiocephalus rufus] M07
    |    `--Murina Gray 1842 [incl. Ocypetes Lesson 1842 non Wagler 1832] M07
    |         |--*M. suilla [=Vespertilio suillus, Harpiocephalus (*Murina) suillus, Ocypetes suillus] M07
    |         |--M. aenea IT07
    |         |--M. aurita M07
    |         |--M. canescens BP87
    |         |--M. cyclotis M07
    |         |--M. feae M07
    |         |--M. florium BP87
    |         |--M. fusca IT07
    |         |--M. griseus M07
    |         |--M. hilgendorfi M07
    |         |--M. huttoni IT07
    |         |--M. leucogaster M07
    |         |--M. puta BP87
    |         |--M. rozendaali IT07
    |         |--M. silvatica IT07
    |         |--M. tenebrosa Yoshiyuki 1970 I92
    |         |--M. tubinaris M07
    |         `--M. ussuriensis IT07
    `--+--Kerivoulinae ST01
       `--+--Vespertilioninae ST01
          |--Myotinae [Myotini] ST01
          |    |--Myotis KJ70
          |    |--Stehlinia KJ70
          |    |--Oligomyotis KJ70
          |    |--Suaptenos KJ70
          |    |--Miomyotis KJ70
          |    `--Lasionycteris Peters 1865 KJ70, M07 (see below for synonymy)
          |         `--*L. noctivagans (LeConte 1831) M07, K92 [=Vespertilio noctivagans M07]
          `--+--Miniopterus ST01
             `--+--Natalidae ST01
                `--Furipteridae [Furiae, Furipterina] ST01
                     |--Furipterus Bonaparte 1837 [incl. Furia Cuvier 1828 non Linnaeus 1758, Furiella Gray 1866] C57
                     |    `--*F. horrens (Cuvier 1828) (see below for synonymy) C57
                     `--Amorphochilus Peters 1877 C57
                          `--*A. schnablii Peters 1877 [incl. A. schnablii osgoodi Allen 1914] C57

*Furipterus horrens (Cuvier 1828) [=Furia horrens, Furipterus torrens (l. c.); incl. Furipterus coerulescens Tomes 1856] C57

Lasionycteris Peters 1865 KJ70, M07 [incl. Cnephalophilus Fitzinger 1870 M07, Vesperides Coues in Coues & Yarrow 1875 M07]

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[BP87] Burton, J. A., & B. Pearson. 1987. Collins Guide to the Rare Mammals of the World. Collins: London.

[C57] Cabrera, A. 1957. Catalogo de los mamiferos de America del Sur. I (Metatheria - Unguiculata - Carnivora). Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia” e Instituto Nacional de Investigacion de Las Ciencias Naturales, Ciencias Zoológicas 4 (1): 1-307.

[G66] Gray, J. E. 1866. Notes on some Mammalia from Port Albany (Cape York Peninsula), North Australia, with the descriptions of some new species. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 219-221.

[HM98] Hand, S. J., P. Murray, D. Megirian, M. Archer & H. Godthelp. 1998. Mystacinid bats (Microchiroptera) from the Australian Tertiary. Journal of Paleontology 72 (3): 538-545.

[IT07] Isaac, N. J. B., S. T. Turvey, B. Collen, C. Waterman & J. E. M. Baillie. 2007. Mammals on the EDGE: conservation priorities based on threat and phylogeny. PLoS One 2 (3): e296.

[I92] Iwahashi, J. (ed.) 1992. Reddo Deeta Animaruzu: a pictorial of Japanese fauna facing extinction. JICC: Tokyo.

[K92] Klompen, J. S. H. 1992. Phylogenetic relationships in the mite family Sarcoptidae (Acari: Astigmata). Miscellaneous Publications, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan 180: i-vi, 1-154.

[KJ70] Koopman, K. F., & J. K. Jones, Jr. 1970. Classification of bats. In About Bats (Slaughter & Walton, eds) pp. 22-28. Southern Methodist University Press: Dallas.

[LA02] Long, J., M. Archer, T. Flannery & S. Hand. 2002. Prehistoric Mammals of Australia and New Guinea: One Hundred Million Years of Evolution. University of New South Wales Press: Sydney.

[M75] McKean, J. L. 1975. The bats of Lord Howe Island with the description of a new nyctophiline bat. Journal of the Australian Mammal Society 1 (4): 329-332.

[M07] Miller, G. S., Jr. 1907. The families and genera of bats. Smithsonian Institution, United States National Museum, Bulletin 57: i-xvii, 1-282, pl. I-XIV.

[MF05] Milne, D. J., A. Fisher, I. Rainey & C. R. Pavey. 2005. Temporal patterns of bats in the Top End of the Northern Territory, Australia. Journal of Mammalogy 86 (5): 909-920.

[R64] Ride, W. D. L. 1964. A list of mammals described from Australia between the years 1933 and 1963 (comprising newly proposed names and additions to the Australian faunal list). Australian Mammal Society Bulletin 7 (Suppl.): 1-15.

[ST01] Springer, M. S., E. C. Teeling, O. Madsen, M. J. Stanhope & W. W. de Jong. 2001. Integrated fossil and molecular data reconstruct bat echolocation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 98 (11): 6241-6246.