The crested roundleaf bat (''Hipposideros inexpectatus'') is a species of

bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most bi ...

in the family

Hipposideridae The Hipposideridae are a family of bats commonly known as the Old World leaf-nosed bats. While it has often been seen as a subfamily, Hipposiderinae, of the family Rhinolophidae, it is now more generally classified as its own family.Simmons, 20 ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Taxonomy

The crested roundleaf bat was described as a new species in 1954 by Eleanor M. O. Laurie and

John Edwards Hill John Edwards Hill (11 June 1928 – 6 May 1997) was a British mammalogist who described 24 species and 26 subspecies during his career. Early life and education Hill was born on 11 June 1928 in the small hamlet of Colemans Hatch in East Sussex, ...

. The

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

had been collected near

Poso Poso ( Old Spelling: ''Posso'') is the administrative capital of Poso Regency, Indonesia. It is the main port and transportation hub for the central-southern coast of Central Sulawesi. Its urban area consists of three districts, Poso Kota, North ...

which is a city on the Indonesian island of

Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...

. As the genus '' Hipposideros'' is very speciose, it is divided into species groups based on morphology. The crested roundleaf abt was placed into the '' diadema'' species group.

Description

Laurie and Hill considered it to be very large compared to other members of the ''diadema'' species group. They wrote that its nose-leaf and ears were similar in appearance to those of the

fierce roundleaf bat The fierce roundleaf bat (''Hipposideros dinops'') is a species of bat in the family Hipposideridae. It is found in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands ...

, ''H. dinops''. Its nose-leaf has four smaller, supplementary nose-leaves that project laterally. The holotype, an individual preserved in alcohol, had a forearm length of .

Range and habitat

It is

to Sulawesi where it has been documented in three localities: one in Central Sulawesi, and two in Northern Sulawesi.

Conservation

As of 2016, it is evaluated as a

data deficient A data deficient (DD) species is one which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as offering insufficient information for a proper assessment of conservation status to be made. This does not necessaril ...

species by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

. It meets the criteria for this classification because it is a poorly known species and any threats that it faces are unknown. It has only been documented once since the 19th century; therefore, its population size and distribution are not known.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q309000 Hipposideros Bats of Indonesia Endemic fauna of Indonesia Mammals described in 1954 Taxa named by John Edwards Hill Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Eleanor Mary Ord Laurie