Jones's roundleaf bat (''Hipposideros jonesi'') is a species of bat 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, 2 ...

. It is endemic to southern

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mau ...

. Its natural habitats are

subtropical or tropical dry forest The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest is a habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature and is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive ...

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

, subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland, rocky areas, and caves and other subterranean habitats.

Taxonomy

The holotype was collected by T. S. Jones of the Sierra Leone Department of Agriculture in

Makeni Makeni is the largest city in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. The city is the capital of Bombali District, and is the economic center of the Northern Province. Makeni is the fifth largest city in Sierra Leone by population. The city of M ...

in 1947. Upon further examination of the holotype at the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docume ...

by Hayman, it was recognized as a distinct species. The bat was subsequently named after T. S. Jones. It belong to the ''bicolor'' species group.

Description

It is a small

microbat Microbats constitute the suborder Microchiroptera within the order Chiroptera ( bats). Bats have long been differentiated into Megachiroptera (megabats) and Microchiroptera, based on their size, the use of echolocation by the Microchiroptera a ...

with a

noseleaf A nose-leaf, or leaf nose, is an often large, lance-shaped nose, found in bats of the Phyllostomidae, Hipposideridae, and Rhinolophidae families. Because these bats echolocate nasally, this nose-leaf is thought to serve some role in modifying ...

and large ears. Both sexes are similar in appearance. It is grayish-brown with an orange phase. The hairs are fine, dense, and silky, and the mid-dorsal hairs are 10-11 mm in length. The

dorsal Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to: * Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism * Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage * Dorsal co ...

pelage Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket t ...

is grayish-brown to a dirty brown. The dorsal hairs are dark gray and gray at the tip. The

ventral Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position prov ...

pelage is lighter, and the ventral hairs are pale gray or brown with a whitish tip. The dorsal pelage on the orange phase is tawny-orange to cinnamon. The wings and the

interfemoral membrane The patagium (plural: patagia) is a membranous body part that assists an animal in obtaining lift when gliding or flight. The structure is found in extant and extinct groups of flying and gliding animals including bats, birds, some dromaeosaurs, ...

are a dark gray in color. It has a noseleaf with enlarged internarial septum, which partly conceals the nostrils. The noseleaf also has one lateral leaflet on each side, with the frontal sac being absent. The noseleaf is longer than it is broad. The posterior component is elongated, and divided into 4 cells by two prominent lateral septa and one weak middle septum. The upper margin of the noseleaf is strongly curved and is sub-triangular in outline. The anterior component is hairy and broad, covering the muzzle. The internarial septum is pad-like and greatly enlarged, forming a transversely oval disc which partly conceals the nostrils. The bat also lacks an anal sac. The bat has very large and separated ears. The ears are around 45-60 % of the forearm length, which is relatively long. The ears are broad, sub-triangular, and pointed in shape with only a faint concavity in outer margin below tip. Each ear has 11 internal folds, with the antitragus possessing a distinct fold.

Biology

The bat is insectivorous.

Habitat and distribution

The species has been recorded in

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the ...

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina ...

, Guinea,

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean to its south and southwest. It ...

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Ma ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...

, and

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

. The species roosts in small groups of several dozen individuals. It is known to roost in caves, boulder caves, true caves, and mine shafts. The bat's range extends through a wide variety of habitats, such as tropical moist forest, arid Sahel, Sahel vegetation, and from lowland areas into

montane Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial ...

regions. It has been recorded up to an elevation of 1350 m.

Conservation

The species has been assessed by the IUCN as

near-threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify fo ...

. It faces threats from degradation of roosting habitat in caves, and may also be threatened by subsistence hunting. The bat's population also depends on the availability of caves as day-roosts. It is not protected by any laws or international agreements, and the presence of the species in protected areas is not known.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q309330 Hipposideros Mammals described in 1947 Bats of Africa Taxonomy articles created by Polbot