The eastern bent-wing bat (''Miniopterus fuliginosus'') 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 ...

in the family

Miniopteridae ''Miniopterus'', known as the bent-winged or long winged bats, is the sole genus of the family Miniopteridae. They are small flying insectivorous mammals, micro-bats of the order Chiroptera, with wings over twice the length of the body. The genus ...

. It is found in South Asia, Far-east Asia, the east Caucasus Mountains and also in Southeast Asian regions.

Description

They exhibit long and narrow wings, high wingspans and low wing loadings, which enable quick and long flights. Head and body length is and the forearms are long with a wingspan of . Color varies from reddish brown to dark blackish brown above, with the underparts being lighter. The wing membrane is blackish brown. Fur is dense and soft, long above and short below. The ears are small and the cheeks are hairless below the eyes. Zhang Jiang Lu et al. 2018 reported that echolocation frequencies were very similar among Eastern bent-wing bat colonies and variation in echolocation calls were likely due to variations in background noise instead of genetic drift.

Taxonomy

This species was once considered a subspecies of the

common bent-wing bat The common bent-wing bat (''Miniopterus schreibersii''), also known as the Schreibers's long-fingered bat or Schreibers's bat, is a species of insectivorous bat. They appear to have dispersed from a subtropical origin and distributed throughout ...

, but now it has been accepted that the eastern bent-winged bat and Australasian bent-winged bat are two separate species.

References

Mammals of Sri Lanka Mammals of India Miniopteridae Mammals described in 1835 Bats of Asia Taxa named by Brian Houghton Hodgson {{bat-stub