The Zoochat Photographic Guide to Bats

Kerivoula
At least 22 species, of which just two are represented in the Zoochat galleries (with one only by a taxidermy specimen).


Hardwicke's or Common Woolly Bat Kerivoula hardwickii
Monotypic, although it is probably a species-complex. It has a wide distribution and subspecies have been recognised in the past.


Photo by @ralph in the wild, Thailand (demonstrating a typical roost-site of a hollow bamboo stem)

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Common woolly bat (Kerivoula hardwickii) - ZooChat


Clear-winged Woolly Bat Kerivoula pellucida
Monotypic


Photo by @vogelcommando of a taxidermy specimen (although taxidermy bats are very often mislabeled so the identification should be considered "unconfirmed").

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Specimen Clear-winged woolly bat - Kerivoula pellucida | ZooChat



There are at least 20 other species in this genus (although probably substantially more than 20):

Tanzanian Woolly Bat Kerivoula africana
St. Aignan's Woolly Bat Kerivoula agnella
Damara Woolly Bat Kerivoula argentata
Copper Woolly Bat Kerivoula cuprosa
Ethiopian Woolly Bat Kerivoula eriophora
Flores Woolly Bat Kerivoula flora
Small Woolly Bat Kerivoula intermedia
Kachin Woolly Bat Kerivoula kachinensis
Krau Woolly Bat Kerivoula krauensis
Lesser Woolly Bat Kerivoula lanosa
Lenis Woolly Bat Kerivoula lenis
Least Woolly Bat Kerivoula minuta
Fly River Woolly Bat Kerivoula muscina
Bismarck's Woolly Bat Kerivoula myrella
Papillose Woolly Bat Kerivoula papillosa
Spurrell's Woolly Bat Kerivoula phalaena
Painted Bat Kerivoula picta
Smith's Woolly Bat Kerivoula smithii
Titania's Woolly Bat Kerivoula titania
Whitehead's Woolly Bat Kerivoula whiteheadi
 
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Phoniscus
Four species, none of which are represented in the Zoochat galleries.


Dubious Trumpet-eared Bat Phoniscus aerosa

Groove-toothed Bat Phoniscus atrox

Common or Peters' Trumpet-eared Bat Phoniscus jagorii

Golden-tipped Bat Phoniscus papuensis
 
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@Chlidonias one of my current goals is to gather up all of my best bat photos (to submit for Lynx's final volume). Once I do I'll be happy to add new ones here- the most of which will come from a multi week trip to Costa Rica with over 20 species between Reserva biológica Tirimbina, Damas Caves outside of the Manuel Antonio Park, and The Bat Jungle Zoo that had around 9-10 species by itself.
 
Family MINIOPTERIDAE
Bent-winged or Long-fingered Bats


About thirty species in one genus (Miniopterus), of which nine species are represented in the Zoochat galleries.



Aellen’s Long-fingered Bat Miniopterus aelleni
Monotypic


Photo by @Giant Eland in the wild, Madagascar

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Aellen's Long-fingered Bat (Miniopterus aelleni) - ZooChat



Madagascar Long-fingered Bat Miniopterus brachytragos
Monotypic


Photo by @Giant Eland in the wild, Madagascar

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Madagascar Long-fingered Bat (Miniopterus brachytragos) - ZooChat



Glen’s Long-fingered Bat Miniopterus gleni
Monotypic


Photo by @Giant Eland in the wild, Madagascar

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Glen's long-fingered bat (Miniopterus gleni) - ZooChat



Griveaud’s Long-fingered Bat Miniopterus griveaudi
Monotypic


Photo by @Giant Eland in the wild, Madagascar

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Griveaud's Long-fingered Bat (Miniopterus griveaudi) - ZooChat



Mahafaly Long-fingered Bat Miniopterus mahafaliensis
Monotypic


Photo by @Giant Eland in the wild, Madagascar

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Mahafaly Long-fingered Bat (Miniopterus mahafaliensis) - ZooChat



Major’s Long-fingered Bat Miniopterus majori
Monotypic


Photo by @Giant Eland in the wild, Madagascar

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Major's Long-fingered Bat (Miniopterus majori) - ZooChat



Least Long-fingered Bat Miniopterus minor
Two subspecies currently recognised: minor and occidentalis. Formerly treated as a dumping ground for all small Miniopterus in Africa, with multiple species having since been split out as separate species. Probably still a species-complex in the remaining populations.


Photo by @ThylacineAlive in the wild, Kenya (subspecies minor)

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Least Long-Fingered Bats - ZooChat



Natal Long-fingered Bat Miniopterus natalensis
Maybe monotypic, or with at least three subspecies (arenarius, natalensis, villiersi) although these may be split out as full species.


Photo by @Giant Eland in the wild, South Africa

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Natal long-fingered bat (Miniopterus natalensis) - ZooChat



Schreibers' Bent-winged Bat Miniopterus schreibersii
Probably monotypic. This species was formerly considered to have a distribution across almost the entire Old World from Europe to Australia, however all the former subspecies have been split off as separate species leaving M. schreibersii now restricted to southern and eastern Europe to the eastern end of the Black Sea and the eastern end of the Mediterranean, and in northern Africa.


Photo by @Najade of a wild animal, Romania (this country coincidentally was also the type location for the species when it was first described)

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Schreibers’ Bat (Miniopterus schreibersii) - ZooChat



The other species in the genus are as below (but note that the taxonomy is always changing):


African Long-fingered Bat Miniopterus africanus
Madagascan Montane Long-fingered Bat Miniopterus ambohitrensis
Little Bent-winged Bat Miniopterus australis
Eger's Long-fingered Bat Miniopterus egeri
Lesser Long-fingered Bat Miniopterus fraterculus
Eastern Bent-winged Bat Miniopterus fuliginosus
Japanese Long-fingered Bat Miniopterus fuscus
Griffiths' Long-fingered Bat Miniopterus griffithsi
Greater Long-fingered Bat Miniopterus inflatus
Small Melanesian Bent-winged Bat Miniopterus macrocneme
Maghreb Bent-winged Bat Miniopterus maghrebensis
Large Bent-winged Bat Miniopterus magnater
Manavi Long-fingered Bat Miniopterus manavi
Intermediate Bent-winged Bat Miniopterus medius
Mozambique Bent-winged Bat Miniopterus mossambicus
Newton's Bent-winged Bat Miniopterus newtoni
Northern Bent-winged Bat Miniopterus orianae
Philippine Long-fingered Bat Minopterus paululus
Peterson's Long-fingered Bat Miniopterus petersoni
Small Bent-winged Bat Miniopterus pusillus
Loyalty Bent-winged Bat Miniopterus robustior
Shortridge's Bent-winged Bat Miniopterus shortridgei
Sororcula Bent-winged Bat Miniopterus sororculus
Great Bent-winged Bat Miniopterus tristis
 
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And, with that, the Zoochat Photographic Guide To Bats is complete (at least as far as currently-uploaded photos go).

As noted in post numbers one and two of the thread, there is a wide range of opinion on how many bat species there are, but I have listed about 1285 bat species in total, in 214 genera. Of those, just 95 species in 55 genera are currently depicted on this site. It's not a great percentage but bats are rarely zoo subjects, and wild bats are obviously difficult to photograph.

There's probably a good chance I missed a few species in the galleries due to the difficulties of finding photos unless they have the scientific names attached. Also, as mentioned by @Giant Eland a couple of posts up, there will hopefully be photos of more species to come in the future.
 
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And, with that, the Zoochat Photographic Guide To Bats is complete (at least as far as currently-uploaded photos go).

As noted in post numbers one and two of the thread, there is a wide range of opinion on how many bat species there are, but I have listed about 1285 bat species in total, in 214 genera. Of those, just 94 species in 55 genera are currently depicted on this site. It's not a great percentage but bats are rarely zoo subjects, and wild bats are obviously difficult to photograph.

There's probably a good chance I missed a few species in the galleries due to the difficulties of finding photos unless they have the scientific names attached. Also, as mentioned by @Giant Eland a couple of posts up, there will hopefully be photos of more species to come in the future.

Just added a number of bat-focused photos to Costa Rica (Wild & Bat Jungle), Fort Worth Zoo (Texas) and India (Wild). Should add photos to nice number of new species :D
 
Just added a number of bat-focused photos to Costa Rica (Wild & Bat Jungle), Fort Worth Zoo (Texas) and India (Wild). Should add photos to nice number of new species :D
Also just added my best photos from the 3 trips I've taken to Omaha (2006, 2010, 2013) including some bats and rodents ;)
I have now added in some of these photos to the thread, which gave six new species, five new genera, and one new family (Noctilionidae).

These were:

Greater Bulldog Bat Noctilio leporinus
Orange Nectar Bat Lonchophylla robusta
Great Fruit-eating Bat Artibeus lituratus
Peter's Tent-making Bat Uroderma bilobatum
Greater Dog-like Bat Peropteryx kappleri
Pallid Bat Antrozous pallidus

Various other photos were used to replace or add to existing photos.

I also added in a new species from @LaughingDove, the Trefoil Horseshoe Bat Rhinolophus trifoliatus.


The total for the thread is now 101 species in 60 genera (about 7.8% of total bat species, and about 28% of the total genera).
 
I have now added in some of these photos to the thread, which gave six new species, five new genera, and one new family (Noctilionidae).

These were:

Greater Bulldog Bat Noctilio leporinus
Orange Nectar Bat Lonchophylla robusta
Great Fruit-eating Bat Artibeus lituratus
Peter's Tent-making Bat Uroderma bilobatum
Greater Dog-like Bat Peropteryx kappleri
Pallid Bat Antrozous pallidus

Various other photos were used to replace or add to existing photos.

I also added in a new species from @LaughingDove, the Trefoil Horseshoe Bat Rhinolophus trifoliatus.


The total for the thread is now 101 species in 60 genera (about 7.8% of total bat species, and about 28% of the total genera).

Be sure to check photos I added to:
Bat Jungle (Costa Rica)
Tirimbina Biological Reserve (Costa Rica)
Bahamas (wild)
India (wild)


I think there are additional species, namely my absolute favorite: Ectophylla alba.

If it helps here's my list of bat species photographed- maybe you can tell me if any of these are unrepresented or poorly represented.

Bats:


1. (Anoura geoffroyi) Geoffroy’s tailless bat

2. (Antrozous pallidus) Pallid Bat

3. (Artibeus jamaicensis) Jamaican fruit bat

4. (Artibeus lituratus) Great fruit-eating bat

5. (Carollia castanea) Chestnut short-tailed bat

6. (Carollia perspicillata) Seba’s short-tailed Bat

7. (Carollia sowelli) Sowell’s short-tailed bat

8. (Cynopterus brachyotis) Lesser dog-faced fruit bat

9. (Dermanura toltecus) Toltec fruit-eating bat

10. (Dermanura watsoni) Thomas’s fruit-eating bat

11. (Desmodus rotundus) Common vampire bat

12. (Diaemus youngi) White-winged vampire bat

13. (Ectophylla alba) Honduran white bat

14. (Eidolon helvum) Straw-coloured fruit bat

15. (Epomophorus gambianus) Gambian epauletted bat

16. (Epomophorus wahlbergi) Wahlberg's epauletted fruit bat?

17. (Eptesicus fuscus) big brown bat

18. (Erophylla sezekorni) buffy flower bat

19. (Glossophaga commissarisi) Commissaris’s long-tongued bat

20. (Glossophaga soricina) Pallas' long-tongued bat

21. (Hypsignathus monstrosus) Hammerhead bat

22. (Lasionycteris noctivagans) silver-haired bat

23. (Leptonycteris curasoae) Southern long-nosed bat

24. (Leptonycteris yerbabuenae) Lesser Long-nosed Bat

25. (Lonchophylla robusta) Orange nectar bat

26. (Macroderma gigas) Ghost bat

27. (Megaerma lyra) Indian False Vampire

28. (Mesophylla macconnelli) MacConnell’s bat

29. (Myotis albescens) Silver-tipped myotis

30. (Myotis nigricans) Black myotis

31. (Noctilio leporinus) Greater bulldog bat

32. (Nycticeius humeralis) evening bat

33. (Peropteryx kappleri) Greater dog-like bat

34. (Phyllostomus discolor) Pale spear-nosed bat

35. (Phyllostomus hastatus) Greater spear-nosed bat

36. (Pipistrellus abramus) Japanese pipistrelle

37. (Platyrrhinus vittatus) Greater broad-nosed bat

38. (Plecotus auritus) Brown long-eared bat

39. (Pteropus alecto) Black Flying Fox

40. (Pteropus conspicillatus) Spectacled flying fox

41. (Pteropus dasymallus) Ryukyu fruit bat

42. (Pteropus giganteus) Indian flying fox

43. (Pteropus hypomelanus) Vietnamese small flying fox

44. (Pteropus livingstonii) Comoro flying fox

45. (Pteropus lylei) Lyle’s flying fox

46. (Pteropus poliocephalus) Grey-headed flying fox

47. (Pteropus pumilus) Little Golden-mantled Flying Fox

48. (Pteropus rodricensis) Rodrigues flying fox

49. (Pteropus scapulatus) Little red flying fox

50. (Pteropus vampyrus) Large flying fox

51. (Rhynchonycteris naso) proboscis bat

52. (Rousettus aegyptiacus) Egyptian fruit bat

53. (Rousettus lanosus) Long-haired Rousette

54. (Rousettus leschenaultia) Leschenault’s Rousette

55. (Saccopteryx bilineata) Greater sac-winged bat

56. (Saccopteryx leptura) Lesser sac-winged bat

57. (Tadarida brasiliensis) Mexican free-tailed bat

58. (Thoopterus nigrescens) Swift fruit bat

59. (Uroderma bilobatum) Tent-making bat

60. (Vespertilio murinus) Parti-colored bat
 
Be sure to check photos I added to:
Bat Jungle (Costa Rica)
Tirimbina Biological Reserve (Costa Rica)
Bahamas (wild)
India (wild)
Yes, I had missed out Tirimbina and the Bahamas. I'll come back to the list above when I have added in the species from those two places.
 
I have now added in some of these photos to the thread, which gave six new species, five new genera, and one new family (Noctilionidae).

These were:

Greater Bulldog Bat Noctilio leporinus
Orange Nectar Bat Lonchophylla robusta
Great Fruit-eating Bat Artibeus lituratus
Peter's Tent-making Bat Uroderma bilobatum
Greater Dog-like Bat Peropteryx kappleri
Pallid Bat Antrozous pallidus

Various other photos were used to replace or add to existing photos.

I also added in a new species from @LaughingDove, the Trefoil Horseshoe Bat Rhinolophus trifoliatus.


The total for the thread is now 101 species in 60 genera (about 7.8% of total bat species, and about 28% of the total genera).
I have added in seven new species which I'd missed from Tirimbica (Costa Rica) and The Bahamas, by @Giant Eland as follows:

Lesser Sac-winged Bat Saccopteryx leptura
Buffy Flower Bat Erophylla sezekorni (new genus)
Honduran White Bat Ectophylla alba (new genus)
MacConnell's Bat Mesophylla macconnelli (new genus)
Thomas' Fruit-eating Bat Artibeus (Dermanura) watsoni
Chestnut Short-tailed Fruit Bat Carollia castanea
Black Mouse-eared Bat Myotis nigricans

And also a new species from @Najade with the Lesser Long-eared Bat Nyctophilus geoffroyi (I didn't add in the Southern Bentwing Bat photo because it doesn't show the bats well enough).


Total for the thread is now 109 species in 63 genera.
 
If it helps here's my list of bat species photographed- maybe you can tell me if any of these are unrepresented or poorly represented.
From the list here are the ones which are not represented or for which you may have better photos:


21. (Hypsignathus monstrosus) Hammerhead bat
The only photo in the galleries is this one: Hammer-headed fruit bat/ Hypsignathus monstrosus | ZooChat


23. (Leptonycteris curasoae) Southern long-nosed bat
This species isn't represented at all.


58. (Thoopterus nigrescens) Swift fruit bat
The only photo in the galleries is this one: Swift Fruit Bat at Tierpark Berlin, 01/09/11 | ZooChat



27. (Megaerma lyra) Indian False Vampire
For this one, do you mean the photos in the Indian Wildlife gallery labelled as Lesser False Vampires Megaderma spasma? I'm not sure which species they are, but they are horseshoe bats.
 
From the list here are the ones which are not represented or for which you may have better photos:


21. (Hypsignathus monstrosus) Hammerhead bat
The only photo in the galleries is this one: Hammer-headed fruit bat/ Hypsignathus monstrosus | ZooChat

Just uploaded my Wroclaw photos from 2018

23. (Leptonycteris curasoae) Southern long-nosed bat
This species isn't represented at all.

Just uploaded 2 photos of this species taken in 2010 in Zoo Krefeld gallery.

58. (Thoopterus nigrescens) Swift fruit bat
The only photo in the galleries is this one: Swift Fruit Bat at Tierpark Berlin, 01/09/11 | ZooChat

My photos of this species are the same specimen in the same location. My photos are little more clear but don't show the face at all. Probably not worth uploading.

27. (Megaerma lyra) Indian False Vampire
For this one, do you mean the photos in the Indian Wildlife gallery labelled as Lesser False Vampires Megaderma spasma? I'm not sure which species they are, but they are horseshoe bats.

Apologies for the miss-identified Indian bat species. I have to agree they're horseshoe bats from the genus Rhinolophus. In doing some research I've landed on Rhinolophus luctus or Rhinolophus lepidus, with R. luctus being more likely. Let me know what you think.
 
I have some bad photos of this species I could potentially upload.
You can upload them and I'll take a look. Depending on how bad they are they may be used, or may be deleted again. What was your identification process for them?
 
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