Pipistrellus lophurus, Thomas, 1915

Bates, Paul J. J., Nwe, Tin, Bu, Si Si Hla, Mie, Khin Mie, Swe, Khin Maung, Nyo, Nyo, Khaing, Aye Aye, Aye, Nu Nu, Toke, Yin Yin, Aung, Naing Naing, Thi, Mar Mar & Mackie, Iain, 2005, A review of the genera Myotis, Ia, Pipistrellus, Hypsugo, and Arielulus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) from Myanmar (Burma), including three species new to the country, Acta Chiropterologica 7 (2), pp. 205-236 : 226-227

Pipistrellus lophurus

Myanmar Pipistrelle

Pipistrellus lophurus Thomas, 1915a: 413 ; Maliwun, Victoria Point, Tenasserim, S. Burma

Previous records from Myanmar

Tanintharyi Division: Maliwun (type lo- cality). There are no new records. Although listed for Myanmar and Thailand in Hutson et al. (2001), according to A. M. Hutson (pers. comm, 2004) the inclusion of Thai- land is an error.

Descriptive characters

Only known by the holotype, this ap- pears to be a rather large species with a forearm length of 35.0 mm ( Table 4). The single male specimen has a tuft of glandular hairs radiating from a point close to the base of the tail on the upper surface of the interfemoral membrane. The tuft is about 12 mm in diameter, with the hairs 5–6 mm in length, uniformly brown and more or less unctuous or sticky. Although Thomas (1915 b) had written that the ‘penis [is] skinned in the type, so that it is doubtful whether it has a bone or not’, the baculum of the holotype was subsequently illustrated in Hill and Harrison (1987). Approximately 2.6 mm in length, it has a flat, spoon-shaped tip, which is deflected downwards; a straight shaft and a simple broad base (Fig. 1E). The skin of the holotype has long, silky fur which is a deep rich brown with the hair bases almost black on the dorsal surface. The hair tips on the ventral surface are a mid-brown with almost black roots. The braincase is fairly high at the occiput, with a slight frontal depression when viewed lat- erally. The zygomata are robust, each has a well developed postorbital process. The rostrum is moderate in length, not broad- ened, and without a median rostral depres- sion. The basioccipital region has a well de- fined central ridge running between the two cochleae and deep basisphenoid pits. The first (I2) and second (I3) upper incisors both have secondary cusps and are well devel- oped teeth. The first upper premolar (P2) is about equal to two-thirds of the crown area of I2. The first lower premolar (P) is

2 between half and two-thirds the crown area of the second (P4).

Similar species

Distinguished from all other local pip- istrelle species by the presence of the tuft at the base of the tail and by the shape of the baculum.

Taxonomic notes

According to Francis and Hill (1986), P. lophurus may be conspecific with kitcheneri, in which case lophurus would be the prior name ( Corbet and Hill, 1992). However, the bacula of the two taxa are morphologically distinct ( Hill and Harrison, 1987) and the two taxa are treated as distinct species by Corbet and Hill (1992).

Ecology

In Tanintharyi Division, a single specimen was collected from Maliwun, which is a township at the head of a small tributary flowing into the Pakchan River. According to Wroughton (1915 b), the area around Maliwun had been cleared (‘Taungya’ clearings) and was under grass with ‘a more or less open, park like appearance’. The grasslands were surrounded by ‘evergreen jungle’.