The large Asian roundleaf bat (''Hipposideros lekaguli'') 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 found in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, and

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

. The

specific Specific may refer to: * Specificity (disambiguation) * Specific, a cure or therapy for a specific illness Law * Specific deterrence, focussed on an individual * Specific finding, intermediate verdict used by a jury in determining the final ...

name commemorates Thai zoologist and conservationist

Boonsong Lekagul Boonsong Lekagul (15 December 1907 – 9 February 1992) was a Thai medical doctor, biologist, ornithologist, herpetologist,Boelens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael. (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Unive ...

Taxonomy and etymology

It was described as a new species in 1974 by Thonglongya and Hill. 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 seve ...

had been collected in the

Kaeng Khoi District Kaeng Khoi ( th, แก่งคอย, ) is a district (''amphoe'') of Saraburi province in central Thailand. Located on the bank of the Pa Sak River amid the surrounding hills of the Dong Phaya Yen Mountains, its main town of the same name dev ...

in 1972 by

. Lekagul is the

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

for the

species name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bo ...

"''lekaguli''."

Description

Its forearm length is . Its ears are broad, large, and triangular. Its

nose-leaf A nose-leaf, or leaf nose, is an often large, lance-shaped nose, found in bats of the Phyllostomidae, 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 s ...

is complexly foliated with intermediate, anterior, and posterior leaflets.

Range and habitat

It was first documented in Thailand in 1972. In 1992, it was additionally documented in the

. It is also found in

Peninsular Malaysia Peninsular Malaysia ( ms, Semenanjung Malaysia; Jawi: سمننجڠ مليسيا), or the States of Malaya ( ms, Negeri-negeri Tanah Melayu; Jawi: نڬري-نڬري تانه ملايو), also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, ...

. It has been documented at a range of elevations from .

Conservation

The large Asian roundleaf bat is listed as a

near-threatened species 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 ...

by the IUCN as of 2019. It is experiencing widespread

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

References

External links

Images of this species
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1767005 Hipposideros Mammals described in 1974 Taxa named by John Edwards Hill Bats of Southeast Asia Taxonomy articles created by Polbot