''Pipistrellus'' is a genus 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 ...

s in the family

Vespertilionidae Vespertilionidae is a family of microbats, of the order Chiroptera, flying, insect-eating mammals variously described as the common, vesper, or simple nosed bats. The vespertilionid family is the most diverse and widely distributed of bat familie ...

and subfamily

Vespertilioninae The Vespertilioninae are a subfamily of vesper bats from the family Vespertilionidae. Classification Subfamily Vespertilioninae *Tribe Antrozoini **Genus '' Antrozous'' *** Pallid bat, ''Antrozous pallidus'' **Genus '' Bauerus'' *** Van Ge ...

. The name of the genus is derived from the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

word , meaning "bat" (from

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 ...

"bird of evening, bat"). The size of the genus has been considerably reduced as a result of work during the 1990s and 2000s, with genera such as '' Arielulus'', ''

Hypsugo The genus ''Hypsugo'' contains many bats referred to as pipistrelles or pipistrelle bats (not to be confused with the genus ''Pipistrellus''). They belong to the family Vespertilionidae or vesper bats. They are primarily found throughout Asia, th ...

'', ''

Falsistrellus ''Falsistrellus'' is a genus of vespertilionid family of bats, small predatory flying mammals. They are known from Australia. The poorly researched species have been variously placed by authors, and revised again by studies of their distinct char ...

'', ''

Neoromicia ''Neoromicia'' is a genus of vesper bat in the family Vespertilionidae. It contains the following species: * Anchieta's serotine (''Neoromicia anchietae'') * Kirindy serotine (''Neoromicia bemainty'') * Yellow serotine (''Neoromicia flavescen ...

'', ''

Parastrellus The canyon bat (''Parastrellus hesperus''), also known as the western pipistrelle, or American parastrelle is a species of vesper bat. It is found in Mexico and in the western United States. The species has historically been placed in the genus ...

'', ''

Perimyotis The tricolored bat (''Perimyotis subflavus'') or American perimyotis is a species of microbat native to eastern North America. Formerly known as the eastern pipistrelle, based on the incorrect belief that it was closely related to European ''Pip ...

'', '' Scotozous'', and ''

Vespadelus ''Vespadelus'' is a genus of Australian bats in the family Vespertilionidae. The genus name was first published by Ellis Le Geyt Troughton and Tom Iredale in 1934, but without an adequate description; the type was cited as ''Scotophilus pumilus' ...

'' being split off. Still, molecular evidence suggests the genus is not

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

. Several other genera in the subfamily Vespertilioninae have also been merged with ''Pipistrellus'' in previous classifications. Species in the genus may be referred to as "pipistrelles" or "pipistrelle bats", though these terms are also used for species now placed in other genera, such as the

western pipistrelle The canyon bat (''Parastrellus hesperus''), also known as the western pipistrelle, or American parastrelle is a species of vesper bat. It is found in Mexico and in the western United States The United States of America (USA), also known ...

(''Parastrellus hesperus'') and

eastern pipistrelle The tricolored bat (''Perimyotis subflavus'') or American perimyotis is a species of microbat native to eastern North America. Formerly known as the eastern pipistrelle, based on the incorrect belief that it was closely related to European ''Pip ...

(''Perimyotis subflavus'') of North America. Species of the Southern Hemisphere separated to genus ''

'' are sometimes referred to as false pipistrelle or falsistrelle. They are somewhat distinguished from their much larger relatives, the noctule bats ''

Nyctalus ''Nyctalus'' is a genus of vespertilionid bats commonly known as the noctule bats. They are distributed in the temperate and subtropical areas of Europe, Asia and North Africa. There are eight species within this genus: * Birdlike noctule, ''N ...

'' by their weak, fluttery flight reminiscent of a butterfly, though a few species are more direct in their flight.

Species

Japanese pipistrelle The Japanese house bat (''Pipistrellus abramus''), also known as Japanese pipistrelle, is a species of vesper bat. An adult has a body length of , a tail of , and a wing length of . It prefers to roost under the ceiling or inside the roof of ol ...

, ''P. abramus'' *

Forest pipistrelle The forest pipistrelle (''Pipistrellus adamsi'') is a species of vesper bat found in Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), ...

, ''P. adamsi'' *

Mount Gargues pipistrelle The Mount Gargues pipistrelle (''Pipistrellus aero'') is a species of vesper bat found in Kenya and believed to be widely distributed across highlands in Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a l ...

, ''P. aero'' *

Anchieta's pipistrelle Anchieta's serotine (''Neoromicia anchietae''), formerly known as Anchieta's pipistrelle, is a species of vesper bat. It is found in Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Madagascar. The species inhabits sav ...

, ''P. anchietae'' *

Angulate pipistrelle The angulate pipistrelle (''Pipistrellus angulatus''), also known as the New Guinea pipistrelle, is a species of vesper bat found in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Identification This species is virtually identical in appearance to the ...

, ''P. angulatus'' *

Kelaart's pipistrelle ''Kelaart's pipistrelle'' (''Pipistrellus ceylonicus'') is a species of vesper bat found in southern and south-eastern Asia from Pakistan to Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oce ...

, ''P. ceylonicus'' * Greater Papuan pipistrelle, ''P. collinus'' *

Indian pipistrelle The Indian pipistrelle (''Pipistrellus coromandra'') is a species of bat in the family Vespertilionidae found in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam Vietnam, offic ...

, ''P. coromandra'' *

Crete pipistrelle Hanak's dwarf bat or Hanak's pipistrelle (''Pipistrellus hanaki'') is a species of bat only found in Cyrenaica, Libya and Crete, Greece. Taxonomy ''Pipistrellus hanaki'' was described as a new species in 2004. Its description was the result of ...

, ''P. creticus'' *

Dhofar pipistrelle The Dhofar pipistrelle (''Pipistrellus dhofarensis'') is a species of vesper bat in the genus ''Pipistrellus''. It is found in Southern Arabia, including Oman and Yemen. Taxonomy ''Pipistrellus dhofarensis'' was described as a new species in 20 ...

, ''P. dhofarensis'' *

Endo's pipistrelle Endo's pipistrelle (''Pipistrellus endoi'') is a species of vesper bat that is endemic to Japan. It is found in temperate forests. Etymology This species was described by Japanese zoologist Yoshinori Imaizumi in 1959. He named it ''endoi'' af ...

, ''P. endoi'' *

Hanak's dwarf bat Hanak's dwarf bat or Hanak's pipistrelle (''Pipistrellus hanaki'') is a species of bat only found in Cyrenaica, Libya and Crete, Greece. Taxonomy ''Pipistrellus hanaki'' was described as a new species in 2004. Its description was the result of ...

, ''P. hanaki'' * Dusky pipistrelle, ''P. hesperidus'' * Aellen's pipistrelle, ''P. inexspectatus'' * Java pipistrelle, ''P. javanicus'' *

Kuhl's pipistrelle Kuhl's pipistrelle (''Pipistrellus kuhlii'') is a species of vesper bat that occurs in large areas of North Africa, Southern Europe and West Asia. It lives in temperate forests, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, Mediterranean-type shrubby ve ...

, ''P. kuhlii'' * Madeira pipistrelle, ''P. maderensis'' *

Minahassa pipistrelle The Minahassa pipistrelle (''Pipistrellus minahassae'') is a species of vesper bat found in Indonesia. Sources

Pipistrellus Mammals described in 1899 Taxa named by Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer Bats of Indonesia Endemic fauna of In ...

, ''P. minahassae'' *†

Christmas Island pipistrelle The Christmas Island pipistrelle (''Pipistrellus murrayi'') is an extinct species of vesper bat that was found only on Christmas Island, Australia. The last individual bat was seen in August 2009 with no further sightings despite intensive effo ...

, ''P. murrayi'' (extinct, last sighted in August 2009) * Tiny pipistrelle, ''P. nanulus'' *

Nathusius's pipistrelle Nathusius' pipistrelle (''Pipistrellus nathusii'') is a small bat in the genus ''Pipistrellus''. It is very similar to the common pipistrelle and has been overlooked in many areas until recently but it is widely distributed across Europe. It wa ...

, ''P. nathusii'' * Lesser Papuan pipistrelle, ''P. papuanus'' * Mount Popa pipistrelle, ''P. paterculus'' * Dar es Salaam pipistrelle, ''P. permixtus'' * Common pipistrelle, ''P. pipistrellus'' *

Soprano pipistrelle The soprano pipistrelle (''Pipistrellus pygmaeus'') is a small species of bat. It is found in Europe and often roosts on buildings. Taxonomy Until 1999, the soprano pipistrelle was considered as conspecific Biological specificity is the tendenc ...

, ''P. pygmaeus'' * Racey's pipistrelle, ''P. raceyi'' * Rüppell's pipistrelle, ''P. rueppellii'' * Rusty pipistrelle, ''P. rusticus'' * Simandou pipistrelle, ''P. simandouensis'' * Narrow-winged pipistrelle, ''P. stenopterus'' *†

Sturdee's pipistrelle Sturdee's pipistrelle (''Pipistrellus sturdeei''), also known as the Japanese bat or Bonin pipistrelle, is an extinct species of bat that was endemic to Japan. The last time this bat was seen was in 1889. However, The sturdee's pipistrelle was dec ...

, ''P. sturdeei'' (

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

2000) * Least pipistrelle, ''P. tenuis'' * Watts's pipistrelle, ''P. wattsi'' * Northern pipistrelle or Koopman's pipistrelle, ''P. westralis''

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Bat genera Taxa named by Johann Jakob Kaup