Rhinolophus minor

Dobson, George Edward, 1878, Rhinolophus, Catalogue of the Chiroptera in the collection of the British Museum, London: British Museum, pp. 100-122 : 114-115

15. Rhinolophus minor .

Rhinolophus minor, Horsjield , Zoolog. Researches in Java (1824); Temminck, Monogr. Mammal, ii. p. 35 (1835-41); Dobson, Monogr. Asiat. Chiropt. p. 50 (1876).

Rhinolophus cornutus, Temminck, I. c. p. 37.

Rhinolophus borneensis, Peters , MB. Ahad. Beri. 186, p. 709.

Ears slightly shorter than the head, subacutely pointed, concave for a short distance beneath the tip; antitragus large, separated by a deep angular notch; horizontal nose-leaf as in Rh. affinis ; vertical process of the sella maintaining the same width upwards, its summit rounded off, much exceeded in height by the upper margin of the posterior connecting-process, which forms an acute projection; posterior nose-leaf small, terminating in a short narrow process. Lower lip with three vertical grooves.

Wings from the ankles; interfemoral membrane square or slightly concave behind; tip of the tail scarcely projecting. Fur light brown above, greyish brown beneath.

In the type specimen the second lower premolar stands in the tooth-row, and is visible without the aid of a lens. In other spe ­ cimens, which differ in no other respect from the type, I have found this tooth external to the tooth-row, as in most species of this genus, while other specimens agree with the type in having the second lower premolar in the tooth-row. In one specimen I have observed this tooth partially external. I therefore regard this character as a variable one, in this species at least.

The upper margin of the posterior connecting-process of the sella is more acute in some specimens of this species than in others; and the form of the posterior free margin of the interfemoral membrane varies, as in Rh. affinis , also, from being slightly concave to square, or even to a slight angularity.

The following Table exhibits, in the first column, the measurements of the type specimen, a dried skin; in the second, those of an adult female from Burma, with the second lower premolar half external; in the third, those of an adult male, with the second lower premolar very small and quite external to the tooth-row:—■

Hab. Peninsula of India, Yunan, Burma, Siam, Sumatra, Java, Borneo , Japan.

Rhinolophus pusillus, Temminck , is not a synonym of this species (as stated in my Monograph of the Asiatic Chiroptera ), but of Rh. hipposideros , as I have determined by direct comparison of the types of this species and of Rh. pusillus in the Leyden Museum.

a. ♀ ad., al. Malabar coast, India.

Purchased.

A. ad. sii. India. Purchased. c. ad. sk. Siam. Purchased. d, e. ♂ ad., al.

f ♀ ad., al.

g. skull of b.