The common thick-thumbed bat (''Glischropus tylopus'') is a species of

vesper bat Vespertilionidae is a family of microbats, of the order Chiroptera, flying, insect-eating mammals variously described as the common, vesper, or simple nosed bats. The vespertilionid family is the most diverse and widely distributed of bat famili ...

found in

Brunei Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, and

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Taxonomy

The common thick-thumbed bat was described as a new species in 1875 by

George Edward Dobson George Edward Dobson Royal Society, FRS Linnean Society of London, FLS Zoological Society of London, FZS (4 September 1848 at Edgeworthstown, County Longford, Ireland – 26 November 1895) was an Irish zoologist, photographer and army surgeon. He ...

. He placed it in the now-defunct genus ''Vesperugo'', with a binomial of ''Vesperugo tylopus''. The

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

had been collected in northern

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

. The collector of the holotype is unknown.

Description

The common thick-thumbed bat has a forearm length of , a tail length of , and an ear length of . Individuals weigh . The fur on the back is darker brown and shaggy, with the underside paler. The base of the thumbs and the soles of the feet have thickened pads that may be white or pink in color.

Biology and ecology

The common thick-thumbed bat is nocturnal, frequently roosting in dead or damaged

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...

stalks, rock crevices, or banana leaves during the day.

Range and habitat

The common thick-thumbed bat lives in forested environments in Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Brunei.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q306394 Glischropus Bats of Southeast Asia Bats of Borneo Bats of Indonesia Bats of Malaysia Bats of the Philippines Mammals of Myanmar Mammals of Thailand Mammals described in 1875 Taxa named by George Edward Dobson Taxonomy articles created by Polbot