Murina balaensis, Soisook, 2013

Don E. Wilson & Russell A. Mittermeier, 2019, Vespertilionidae, Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 9 Bats, Barcelona: Lynx Edicions, pp. 716-981 : 919-920

363.

Bala Tube-nosed Bat

Murina balaensis

French: Murine de Bala / German: Bala-Rohrennase / Spanish: Ratonero narizudo de Bala

Taxonomy. Murina balaensis Soisook et al., 2013 ,

“ Thailand, Narathiwat Province, Wang, Halabala WS, Bala Forest, Second bridge wail, 5°48.9°N, 101°48.1°E, 370 m asl.”

See M. eleryi . Monotypic.

Distribution. Known only from type locality in S Peninsular Thailand.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 34-334- 5 mm, tail 30-6-30- 7 mm, ear 12-312- 8 mm, hindfoot 6- 6-7 mm, forearm 28-30- 4 mm; weight 3-5- 4 g. Fur long and silky. Dorsal pelage is golden orangish brown (hairs with dark gray bases and orange reddish brown tips, some hairs having charcoal black tips), with longer shiny golden guard hairs mixed throughout; venter is whitish gray (hairs with dark gray bases and whitish graytips). Dorsal pelage extends sparsely onto wings, uropatagium, thumbs, and feet. Face is sparsely haired except for long protuberant naked nostrils. Ears are short, broad, and rounded, with smoothly convex anterior margins, no notch on posterior margins, and broadly rounded tips; tragus is long and narrow and tapers toward pointed tip. Wing attaches near base of claw on first toe. Baculum is relatively rectangular, with rounded corners and slight concavities on tip and base; it is small (1 mm long) and has upwardly arched dorsal surface and deeply concave ventralside for its full length. Skull has relatively low braincase; sagittal crest is absent, and lambdoidal crest is weak; I? is anterior to I; C! is twothirds to slightly less than the crown area but subequal in height to P*; P? is ¢.50% the crown area and height of P*; M' and M* have well-developed mesostyles; and talonids of M, and M, are subequal to or larger than their respective trigonids.

Habitat. Lowland moist evergreen rainforest at elevations of 340-370 m (type locality).

Food and Feeding. Bala Tube-nosed Bats were observed foraging for small insects in cluttered understory, flying 2-3 m aboveground.

Breeding. No information.

Activity patterns. Calls of two Bala Tube-nosed Bats (male holotype and female paratype) are steep FM sweeps, with start frequencies of 145-9-158-7 kHz (male) and 159- 164 kHz (female), end frequencies of 65-5-67 kHz (male) and 62-66-9 kHz (female), peak frequencies of 90-7-107-3 kHz (male) and 84-6-95-3 kHz (female), and durations of 1-7-2-6 milliseconds (male) and 1-9-3 milliseconds (female).

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Critically Endangered on The IUCN Red Last. The Bala Tube-nosed Bat is currently known from two specimens from one locality, and virtually nothing is known aboutits ecology and threats. It is likely threatened by habitat loss from agricultural expansion and logging.

Bibliography. Soisook (2017b), Soisook, Thaw Win-Naingng et al. (2017).

Figures

348. Annam Tube-nosed Bat (Murina annamitica), 349. Walston’s Tube-nosed Bat (Murina walstoni), 350. Brown Tube-nosed Bat (Murina suilla), 351. Flores Tube-nosed Bat (Murina florium), 352. Bronze Tube-nosed Bat (Munrina aenea), 353. Scully’s Tube-nosed Bat (Murina tubinaris), 354. Fiona’s Tube-nosed Bat (Murina fionae), 355. Guillen’s Tube-nosed Bat (Murina guilleni), 356. Round-eared Tube-nosed Bat (Murina cyclotis), 357. Peninsular Tube-nosed Bat (Murina perunsulars), 358. Libo Tube-nosed Bat (Murina liboensis), 359. Kon Tum Tube-nosed Bat (Murina kontumensis), 360. Hkakabo Razi Tube-nosed Bat (Murina hkakaboraziensis), 361. Gilded Tube-nosed Bat (Murina rozendaali), 362. Elery’s Tube-nosed Bat (Murina eleryi), 363. Bala Tube-nosed Bat (Murina balaensis), 364. Hidden Tube-nosed Bat (Murina recondita), 365. Gracile Tube-nosed Bat (Murina gracilis)

Distribution. Known only from type locality in S Peninsular Thailand .