The Javanese long-fingered bat (''Miniopterus blepotis'') is a species of bat from the

Miniopterus ''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 ...

genus native to

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, ...

. A common misconception was that ''Miniopterus blepotis'' belonged to the '' M. schreibersii'' subspecies. ''M. blepotis'' was recognized as a distinct species after the Schreibersii complex was divided. This is backed up by New Guinean mtDNA sequence data that is ascribed to ''M. blepotis''. Whether it is a complex made up of multiple species is unknown. It's hindleg measures and it's ear measures . Although forearm length is typically shorter, it falls within the Western bent-winged bat's range. In relation to the length of its forearm, it has a correspondingly smaller tibia.

Taxonomy

''Miniopterus'', a widespread genus of bats in Africa, southern Eurasia, and Australia, was first recorded from Madagascar by George Edward Dobson, who mentioned the larger Miniopterus schreibersii and the smaller M. scotinus (currently M. natalensis) in his 1878 catalog of the bats in the British Museum.

Description

In New Guinea, the dorsal fur has two colors—dark black-brown bases and light red-brown or medium brown points. It has a head-to-body length of , a tail and an average weight of . The tragus is short, blunt, and slightly bent forward. The ears are also short.

Distribution and ecology

It ranges across

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 ...

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New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

, Lesser Sunda and some nearby Islands. It inhabits dry, secondary and wet forests in elevations of up to . Although it prefers caves, it can also be found in mines or tunnels. Species of Miniopterus such as the little long-fingered bat (''M. australis'') and the large long-fingered bat are frequently seen in colonies alongside Javanese long-fingered bats. It seeks aerial prey above the canopy of the forest in its quick, direct flight.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q116786511 Miniopteridae Mammals described in 1837