Pipistrellus lophurus Thomas 1915

Pipistrellus lophurus Myanmar Pipistrelle Pipistrellus lophurus Thomas, 1915a: 413; Maliwun, Victoria Point, Tenasserim, S. Burma Previous records from Myanmar Tanintharyi Division: Maliwun (type lo- cality). There are no new records. Although listed for Myanmar and Thailand in Hutson et al. (2001), according to A. M. Hutson (pers. comm, 2004) the inclusion of Thai- land is an error. Descriptive characters Only known by the holotype, this ap- pears to be a rather large species with a forearm length of 35.0 mm (Table 4). The single male specimen has a tuft of glandular hairs radiating from a point close to the base of the tail on the upper surface of the interfemoral membrane. The tuft is about 12 mm in diameter, with the hairs 5–6 mm in length, uniformly brown and more or less unctuous or sticky. Although Thomas (1915 b) had written that the ‘penis [is] skinned in the type, so that it is doubtful whether it has a bone or not’, the baculum of the holotype was subsequently illustrated in Hill and Harrison (1987). Approximately 2.6 mm in length, it has a flat, spoon-shaped tip, which is deflected downwards; a straight shaft and a simple broad base (Fig. 1E). The skin of the holotype has long, silky fur which is a deep rich brown with the hair bases almost black on the dorsal surface. The hair tips on the ventral surface are a mid-brown with almost black roots. The braincase is fairly high at the occiput, with a slight frontal depression when viewed lat- erally. The zygomata are robust, each has a well developed postorbital process. The rostrum is moderate in length, not broad- ened, and without a median rostral depres- sion. The basioccipital region has a well de- fined central ridge running between the two cochleae and deep basisphenoid pits. The first (I2) and second (I3) upper incisors both have secondary cusps and are well devel- oped teeth. The first upper premolar (P2) is about equal to two-thirds of the crown area of I2. The first lower premolar (P) is 2 between half and two-thirds the crown area of the second (P4). Similar species Distinguished from all other local pip- istrelle species by the presence of the tuft at the base of the tail and by the shape of the baculum. Taxonomic notes According to Francis and Hill (1986), P. lophurus may be conspecific with kitcheneri , in which case lophurus would be the prior name (Corbet and Hill, 1992). However, the bacula of the two taxa are morphologically distinct (Hill and Harrison, 1987) and the two taxa are treated as distinct species by Corbet and Hill (1992). Ecology In Tanintharyi Division, a single specimen was collected from Maliwun, which is a township at the head of a small tributary flowing into the Pakchan River. According to Wroughton (1915 b), the area around Maliwun had been cleared (‘Taungya’ clearings) and was under grass with ‘a more or less open, park like appearance’. The grasslands were surrounded by ‘evergreen jungle’.
Published as part of Bates, Paul J. J., Nwe, Tin, Bu, Si Si Hla, Mie, Khin Mie, Swe, Khin Maung, Nyo, Nyo, Khaing, Aye Aye, Aye, Nu Nu, Toke, Yin Yin, Aung, Naing Naing, Thi, Mar Mar & Mackie, Iain, 2005, A review of the genera Myotis, Ia, Pipistrellus, Hypsugo, and Arielulus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) from Myanmar (Burma), including three species new to the country, pp. 205-236 in Acta Chiropterologica 7 (2) on pages 226-227, DOI: 10.3161/1733-5329(2005)7[205:AROTGM]2.0.CO;2, http://zenodo.org/record/3942897
{"references":["THOMAS, O. 1915 a. On bats of the genera Nyctalus, Tylonycteris, and Pipistrellus. Annals and Maga- zine of Natural History, 15: 225 - 232.","HUTSON, A. M., S. P. MICKLEBURGH, and P. A. RACEY. 2001. Microchiropteran bats: global status sur- vey and conservation action plan. IUCN, Gland, 258 pp.","THOMAS, O. 1915 b. On pipistrelles of the genera Pipistrellus and Scotozous. Journal of the Bom- bay Natural History Society, 24: 29 - 36.","HILL, J. E., and D. L HARRISON. 1987. The baculum in the Vespertilioninae (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) with a systematic review, a synopsis of Pipistrellus and Eptesicus, and the descriptions of a new genus and subgenus. Bulletin of the British Museum Natural History (Zoology), 52: 225 - 305.","FRANCIS, C. M., and J. E. HILL. 1986. A review of the Bornean Pipistrellus (Mammalia: Chiroptera). Mammalia, 50: 43 - 55.","CORBET, G. B., and J. E. HILL. 1992. The mammals of the Indomalayan region. Natural History Mu- seum Publications. Oxford University, Oxford, 488 pp.","Natural History Society, 29: 88 - 89. WROUGHTON, R. C. 1915 b. Bombay Natural History"]}