113.

La Touche’s Free-tailed Bat

Tadarida latouchei

French: Tadaride de La Touche / German: La-Touche-Bulldogfledermaus / Spanish: Murciélago rabudo de La Touche

Taxonomy. Tadarida latouchei Thomas, 1920,

“Chin-wang-tao, N.E. Chihli, China.”

ladarida latouchei was previously considered a subspecies of 1. teniotis; currently recognized as a distinct species, but further revision is needed. Monotypic.

Distribution. Disjunct locations in NE China (Liaoning, Inner Mongolia [= Nei Mongol], Hebei, Beijing, and Shandong), N & C Laos, and NE Thailand (Loei Province). There are three vagrant records in Japan, on Amami-Oshima, Kuchinoerabujima, and Yoronjima Is.

Descriptive notes. Head—-body 67-72 mm, tail 41-49 mm, ear 22-27 mm, forearm 53-57 mm. No specific data are available for hindfoot length or body weight. Hairs are short, soft and velvety; dorsal fur is dark brown or grayish brown; ventralside is paler. Upperlip is wrinkled. Ears are large andjoined by a flap of narrow skin over forehead. Wing membrane is attached to basal one-third oftibia.

Habitat. In Thailand, La Touche’s Free-tailed Bat has been recorded in dry evergreen hill forest at 1500 m.

Food and Feeding. No information.

Breeding. No information.

Activity patterns. La Touche’s Free-tailed Bat is known to roost in caves.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. [La Touche’s Free-tailed Bat was recorded forming a large colony in Laos.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Data Deficient on The IUCN Red List. Population size 1s decreasing and La Touche’s Free-tailed Bat is thought to be at risk due to hunting for food and roost disturbance.

Bibliography. Abe et al. (2005), Corbet & Hill (1992), Francis (2008a), Francis & Maeda (2008), Funakoshi & Kunisaki (2000), Kock (1999), Simmons (2005), Smith & Xie Yan (2008), Wang Yingxiang (2003).