Peters's wrinkle-lipped bat (''Mormopterus jugularis''), also called Peters's goblin bat, is a species of

bat Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

in the family Molossidae, the free-tailed bats. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

, where it is widespread and in some areas abundant. It commonly roosts in human-made structures, sometimes in colonies with other free-tailed bat species.Andriafidison, D., et al. 2008
''Mormopterus jugularis''.
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.3. Downloaded on 23 March 2015. It forages in the open, often in agricultural areas. The bat is

sexually dimorphic Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, di ...

, with males larger than females.

Taxonomy and etymology

It was described as a new species in 1865 by German naturalist

Wilhelm Peters Wilhelm Karl Hartwich (or Hartwig) Peters (22 April 1815 – 20 April 1883) was a German natural history, naturalist and explorer. He was assistant to the anatomist Johannes Peter Müller and later became curator of the Natural History Museum, ...

. Peters placed it in the now-defunct genus ''Nyctinomus'' and the subgenus ''Mormopterus'', with the scientific name of ''Nyctinomus (Mormopterus) jugularis''. In his description of the species (in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

), Peters wrote that it had "''fovea jugulari magna''", or a large suprasternal notch. This anatomical feature was likely the inspiration for the

species name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

"''jugularis''."

Description

From head to tail, it is approximately long. Its forearm is long; its wingspan is long; and it weighs . Its fur is soft and dense, with its back grayish-brown to charcoal in color, and its belly paler. Its

snout A snout is the protruding portion of an animal's face, consisting of its nose, mouth, and jaw. In many animals, the structure is called a muzzle, Rostrum (anatomy), rostrum, beak or proboscis. The wet furless surface around the nostrils of the n ...

has a blunt tip, and is slightly upturned. Its ears are large and rounded; the bases of the ears do not touch. It has a well-defined tragus.

Range and habitat

It is

, where it has been documented from above sea level. It is widespread in the western half of Madagascar, as well as along the southern coast.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1831478 Peters's wrinkle-lipped bat Bats of Africa Endemic fauna of Madagascar Mammals of Madagascar Peters's wrinkle-lipped bat Taxa named by Wilhelm Peters