The Malayan roundleaf bat (''Hipposideros nequam'') is a horseshoe bat found only 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 ...

. It is listed as a data deficient species.

Taxonomy

It was described as a new species in 1918 by Danish mammalogist Knud Andersen. 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 in 1879 by W. Davison in

Klang, Malaysia Klang or Kelang, officially Royal City of Klang ( ms, Bandar Diraja Klang), is a royal city and former capital of the state of Selangor, Malaysia. It is located within the Klang District. It was the civil capital of Selangor in an earlier era ...

. It was presented to Andersen by Allan Octavian Hume. It is considered a member of the '' bicolor'' species group within ''Hipposideros'' based on its

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

. The holotype is the only known specimen of this species. As it was damaged, it is uncertain if the Malayan roundleaf bat is truly a distinct species. Its species name "'' nequam''" is

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

for "worthless."

Description

The forearm length of the holotype was . It had a large nose-leaf of in length and in width. Its first

premolar The premolars, also called premolar teeth, or bicuspids, are transitional teeth located between the canine and molar teeth. In humans, there are two premolars per quadrant in the permanent set of teeth, making eight premolars total in the mouth ...

is small and its nasal septum is very thin.

Range and status

The Malayan roundleaf bat is only known from the type locality of Klang, Malaysia. As of 2016, it was 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 ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1770358 Endemic fauna of Malaysia Mammals described in 1918 Bats of Malaysia Hipposideros Taxa named by Knud Andersen