The Indonesian tomb bat (''Taphozous achates'') is a species of

sac-winged bat Emballonuridae is a family (biology), family of microbats, many of which are referred to as sac-winged or sheath-tailed bats. They are widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions around the world. The earliest fossil records are from ...

in the family Emballonuridae. It is found only in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

Taxonomy

The Indonesian tomb bat was described as a new species in 1915 by British mammalogist

Oldfield Thomas Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas (21 February 1858 – 16 June 1929) was a British zoologist. Career Thomas worked at the Natural History Museum, London, Natural History Museum on mammals, describing about 2,000 new species and subspecies for ...

. The

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

had been collected on the Indonesian island of

Savu Savu (, also known as Sabu, Havu, and Hawu) is the largest of a group of three islands, situated midway between Sumba and Rote, west of Timor, in Indonesia's eastern province, East Nusa Tenggara. Ferries connect the islands to Waingapu on Su ...

in 1896 by British naturalist

Alfred Hart Everett Alfred Hart Everett (11 October 1848 – 18 June 1898) was a British civil servant and administrator in Borneo as well as being a naturalist and natural history collector. Career Everett was born on Norfolk Island to British parents: George, the ...

. 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 ...

"''achates''" is the character of

Achates In Greek and Roman mythology, Achates (Ancient Greek: Ἀχάτης) may refer to the following personages: * Achates, a companion of the exiled Aeneas. * Achates, a Sicilian who came to Aristaeus in order to join Dionysus in his Indian campaign ...

from a Latin epic poem, ''

The Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. Written by the Roman poet Virgil between 29 and ...

''. Oldfield Thomas frequently employed names from mythology and the

Classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

when naming new species of mammal.

Description

In many characteristics, it is similar to the

black-bearded tomb bat The black-bearded tomb bat (''Taphozous melanopogon'') is a species of sac-winged bat found in South and South East Asia. Taxonomy and etymology It was described as a new species in 1841 by Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck. The holotype ...

, though it can be differentiated by its conspicuously larger skull. Individuals have a forearm length of approximately .

References

Taphozous Mammals described in 1915 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas Bats of Southeast Asia {{Emballonuridae-stub