The Zoochat Photographic Guide to Bats

Eptesicus
Big Brown Bat Eptesicus fuscus

Twelve subspecies: bahamensis, bernardinus, dutertreus, fuscus, hispaniolae, lynni, miradorensis, osceola, pallidus, peninsulae, petersoni, wetmorei


Photo by @Giant Eland at the Virginia Living Museum, USA

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2013: Virginia Living Museum | ZooChat
I have a photo of whatever subspecies is found in Wisconsin.
 
I have a photo of whatever subspecies is found in Wisconsin.
The subspecies in Wisconsin is fuscus which is probably the same subspecies as in Giant Eland's photo (fuscus is the eastern subspecies in the USA, and hence also found in Virginia).

The species has a lot of subspecies because it is found throughout Central America and parts of northern South America, as well as on numerous islands in the Caribbean.
 
The subspecies in Wisconsin is fuscus which is probably the same subspecies as in Giant Eland's photo (fuscus is the eastern subspecies in the USA, and hence also found in Virginia).

The species has a lot of subspecies because it is found throughout Central America and parts of northern South America, as well as on numerous islands in the Caribbean.
So do you want me to upload it or not? It's nowhere near the quality of Giant Eland's photo but it's better than the red bat one.
 
Sturnira
About 24 species, of which only one is represented in the Zoochat galleries.


Highland Yellow-shouldered Bat Sturnira ludovici
Two subspecies: ludovici, occidentalis


Photo by @Maguari at Bat Jungle, Costa Rica (subspecies ludovici)

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Highland Yellow-shouldered Bat at the Bat Jungle, 21/04/14 | ZooChat


Given that the Bat Jungle bats were all collected locally according to the staff there, this animal may actually be S. burtonlimi, the description of which, I am amused to find, was actually published only five days before I took this photo. The new HMW volume doesn't include Costa Rica in the range of S. ludovici at all, but the distribution limits (and any overlap) of S. hondurensis, S. burtonlimi and S. ludovici in Costa Rica/Panama still don't appear to have been fully resolved.
 
I have added in photos of four new species to the thread, all by @RatioTile from the Asa Zoo in Japan, bringing the number of represented bat species to 123 (out of a total number of 1285):


Greater Horseshoe Bat Rhinolophus ferrumequinum
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East Asian Free-tailed Bat Tadarida insignis
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Large Japanese (Bird-like) Noctule Nyctalus aviator
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East Asian Particoloured Bat Vespertilio sinensis
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There are currently 280 species from 117 genera depicted in the thread (out of about 1300 bat species in total), illustrated by 336 photos which have been taken by 45 members. Twelve photos are of museum specimens rather than live animals.

[I'll keep this post updated whenever new photos are added: latest update 14 July 2025]


One photo:
@aardvark250
@Arizona Docent
@AWP
@Azamat Shackleford
@birdsandbats
@Bonobo
@carl the birder
@chrisroughley
@DannySG
@Ding Lingwei (museum specimen)
@Elephas Maximus
@Fishapod
@Gil
@Ituri
@Kudu21
@Merintia
@Michal Sloviak
@Monty
@Newzooboy
@Orycteropus
@Semioptera
@Sun Wukong
@tdierikx
@TeaLovingDave
@Terry Thomas
@UngulateNerd92 (museum specimen)

Two photos:
@alexkant
@Jakub
@Tomek

Three photos:
@devilfish
@Sicarius

Four photos:
@lintworm

Five or more photos:
@LaughingDove - five photos
@ralph - five photos
@ThylacineAlive - five photos
@vogelcommando - five photos (three being museum specimens)
@RatioTile- six photos
@ronnienl - seven photos
@WhistlingKite24 - seven photos (five being museum specimens)
@Hix - eight photos
@Maguari - fifteen photos
@Chlidonias - sixteen photos (two being museum specimens)
@Najade - 94 photos
@Giant Eland - 121 photos
 
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A couple more species have been added to the thread.


The first is Large-eared (or Big-eared) Flying Fox Pteropus macrotis by @Hix which brings us up to 19 Pteropus species depicted.

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The other new addition to the thread is a little embarrassing because I discovered today that I had somehow missed out an entire family of bats without realising! Nycteridae is only a small family - about sixteen species in total, and all in one genus - which is how I think it slipped by unnoticed. Fortunately there is one species in the gallery, the Common Slit-faced Bat Nycteris thebaica which is represented by three photos from Botswana by @Maguari (I have used two of the photos).

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The post for that family is now here (#108): The Zoochat Photographic Guide to Bats
 
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