Australasian bent-wing bat

Australasian bent-wing bat
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Chiroptera
Family:	Miniopteridae
Genus:	Miniopterus
Species:	M. orianae
Binomial name
Miniopterus orianae Thomas, 1922 [1]

The Australasian bent-wing bat (Miniopterus orianae) is a species of vesper bat in the family Miniopteridae. It is found in Australia and in Southeast Asia.

Taxonomy

The Australasian bent-wing bat was described as a new species in 1922 by British zoologist Oldfield Thomas. The holotype had been collected on 9 July 1922 by Oriana F. Wilson, widow of Antarctic explorer Edward Adrian Wilson. Thomas named the species Miniopterus orianae. ^[2] This species was once considered a subspecies of common bent-wing bat. It is now accepted that the Australasian bent-winged bat and the Eastern bent-winged bat are two distinct species. ^[1]

The Australasian bent-wing bat has three subspecies: M. orianae bassanii (the southern bent-wing bat), M. o. orianae (the northern bent-wing bat), and M. o. oceanensis (the eastern bent-wing bat). ^{[3] [1]}

Ecology

It is known to harbor the blood parasite Polychromophilus melanipherus , though one study found that bats with the blood parasite did not appear to suffer deleterious effects such as anemia or low body weight. ^[4]

Range and habitat

M. orianae bassanii only occurs in southwestern Victoria and southeastern South Australia. M. orianae oceanensis occurs widely along the east coast of Australia. ^[4] M. orianae orianae was first documented in Casurina Bay, which is 17 mi (27 km) from Darwin, Northern Territory. ^[1]

Conservation

One of the subspecies (M. orianae bassanii) has been evaluated as critically endangered in Australia under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 since 2007. ^[5] M. orianae oceanensis is listed as vulnerable in Victoria, as it is only known from one maternity cave. ^[4]

References

1. Jackson, S.; Groves, C. (2015). Taxonomy of Australian Mammals. Australia: CSIRO Publishing. ISBN   978-1-4863-0014-3.
2. Thomas, Oldfield (1922). "LXVI.—A new bat of the genus Miniopterus from N. Australia". Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 10 (60): 616–617. doi:10.1080/00222932208632816.
3. Holz, Peter H.; Lumsden, Linda F.; Marenda, Marc S.; Browning, Glenn F.; Hufschmid, Jasmin (2018). "Two subspecies of bent-winged bats (Miniopterus orianae bassanii and oceanensis) in southern Australia have diverse fungal skin flora but not Pseudogymnoascus destructans". PLOS ONE. 13 (10): e0204282. Bibcode:2018PLoSO..1304282H. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0204282 . PMC   6179213 . PMID   30303979.
4. Holz, Peter H.; Lumsden, Linda F.; Legione, Alistair R.; Hufschmid, Jasmin (2019). "Polychromophilus melanipherus and haemoplasma infections not associated with clinical signs in southern bent-winged bats (Miniopterus orianae bassanii) and eastern bent-winged bats (Miniopterus orianae oceanensis)". International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife. 8: 10–18. Bibcode:2019IJPPW...8...10H. doi:10.1016/j.ijppaw.2018.11.008. PMC   6287050 . PMID   30619705.
5. "Miniopterus orianae bassanii — Southern Bent-wing Bat". Australian Government Department of Environment and Energy. Retrieved 14 April 2019.