Scotophilus heathii (Horsfield, 1831)

Don E. Wilson & Russell A. Mittermeier, 2019, Vespertilionidae, Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 9 Bats, Barcelona: Lynx Edicions, pp. 716-981 : 885-886

271.

Greater Asiatic Yellow Bat

Scotophilus heathii

French: Scotophile de Heath / German: Grol 3e Asiatische Hausfledermaus / Spanish: Scotofilo de Heath

Other common names: Asiatic Greater Yellow House Bat, Common Yellow Bat, Greater Asiatic Yellow House Bat

Taxonomy. Nycticejus heathit Horsfield, 1831 ,

Madras, India.

Scotophilus heathii is genetically close to S. tandrefana and S. marovazain Madagascar and S. leucogasterin sub-Saharan Africa, being embedded in the African Scotophilus clade unrelated to the widespread Asiatic species S. kuhlii . Scotophilus heathii might include S. celebensis . Three subspecies (heath, insularis , and watkinst) have been recognized, but there is no well-defined distribution for any subspecies. Monotypic.

Distribution. NE Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, SC & SE China (Yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong, and Fujian) including Hainan I, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam (including Cat Ba and Phu Quoc Is), and N & E Cambodia.

Descriptive notes. Head—body 67-93 mm, tail 43-72 mm, ear 13-20- 2 mm, hindfoot 9-15 mm, forearm 55-69 mm; weight 29-53 g. Pelage is fine and short. Dorsal pelage is dark orange to reddish brown, sometimes chestnut-brown (hair bases pale buffy brown, with darker olive-brown tips); venter is paler brownish or khaki, usually with distinct yellowish tint and occasionally reddish or golden yellow. Membranes and bare skin are dark brown. Muzzle is broad and blunt, with swollen glands on both sides and simple nostrils. Ears are small, with transverse ridges; antitragus is separated from posterior margin of ear by distinct notch and well developed; tragus is one-half the ear length and is crescent-shaped, with basal notch. Tail extends c¢. 2-3 mm past margin of uropatagium. Baculum is small and bluntly triangular in dorsal view but very thin in lateral view, and base is barely bulged. Skull is robust, with elongated and deep braincase; lambdoid crests are well developed; rostrum is short and broad; sagittal crest is variably developed but most defined posteriorly (especially in old males), bifurcates in interorbital region, and extends to front of orbits; zygomatic arches are moderately flattened; tympanic bullae are small; condylo-canine lengths are 19-21- 3 mm; I* is large, robust, and unicuspid; P* is large and is two-thirds C' height; P, is very small and tightly compressed in tooth row; P, is well developed and about two-thirds C, height. Diploid number is 2n = 36.

Habitat. Urban areas and forested habitats from sea level up to elevations of ¢. 1500 m. Greater Asiatic Yellow Bats forage in forest clearings, at forest edges, over fields, and in other open habitats.

Food and Feeding. Greater Asiatic Yellow Bats appear to forage by aerial hawking and usually fly less than 3-4 m aboveground. When pursuing prey, they can be less than 0-5 m aboveground and fly mostly straight with few twists and turns. They fly a few hundred meters from their roosts before returning using the same flight path.

Breeding. Greater Asiatic Yellow Bats breed once a year. Copulation occurs in the second week of Novemberin Kerala and January-February in Uttar Pradesh. During the breeding season, males form harems of 2-6 females. Testes of Pakistani males increased in size from September to October; spermatogenesis peaks in November when testes double in size. There is also evidence of sperm storage in females, and ovulation and fertilization occurred after sperm was stored until the last week of December. Gestation reportedly lasts 115 days in Uttar Pradesh, births occurred in earlyJuly, lactation lasted 2-3 weeks, and weaning coincided with increased insect abundance at the beginning of monsoon season. Births in Kerala occurred in April-May. In Sri Lanka, pregnant females were reported in September—October. They give birth to 1-2 young. At birth, young weigh c. 5 g and developed quickly, reaching c. 20 g by three weeks of age. Females seem to reach maturity faster than males.

Activity patterns. The Greater Asiatic Yellow Bat roosts in crevices, hollows in buildings, roofs of houses, tree hollows, crowns of palm leaf stems, and under leaves of palmyra trees. They leave roosts a little after sunset (6-26 minutes in India), generally not exiting during heavy rain. Call shape is FM sweep. In the Western Ghats, India, average start frequency was 56-7 kHz (43-2-83-8 kHz), average end frequency was 37-7 kHz (33-8-43 kHz), average peak frequency was 41-2 kHz (37-4-59-6 kHz), and average duration was 2-7 milliseconds (2-2-3-5 milliseconds).

Movements, Home range and Social organization. Greater Asiatic Yellow Bats roost alone or in colonies that usually have less than 50 individuals and are sexually segregated except during breeding when males form harems.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The [UCN Red List. The Greater Asiatic Yellow Bat is widespread and common;it does not seem to face any major threats.

Bibliography. Bates & Harrison (1997), Bates, Csorba, Molur & Srinivasulu (2008b), Benda & Gaisler (2015), Bhatnagar & Srivastava (1974), Das (2003), Francis (2008a), Krishna (2011), Krishna & Abhilasha (2000), Kruskop (2013a), Nargis et al. (2016), Rahman, Perveen, Rauf, Salim, Ali, Khan & Kamal (2015), Roy & Krishna (2011, 2012), Shahbaz, Javid, Mahmood-ul-Hassan, Hussain (2014), Sharma et al. (1974), Siddiqi (1960), Smith & Xie Yan (2008), Srinivasulu & Srinivasulu (2012), Trujillo (2006), Trujillo et al. (2009), Vanitharani (2006), Wordley et al. (2014).

Figures

269. Lesser Asiatic Yellow Bat (Scotophilus kuhlii), 270. Sody’s Yellow Bat (Scotophilus collinus), 271. Greater Asiatic Yellow Bat (Scotophilus heathii), 272. Sulawesi Yellow Bat (Scotophilus celebensis), 273. Nut-colored Yellow Bat (Scotophilus nux), 274. Malagasy Yellow Bat (Scotophilus tandrefana), 275. Marovaza Yellow Bat (Scotophilus marovaza), 276. White-bellied Yellow Bat (Scotophilus leucogaster), 277. East African Yellow Bat (Scotophilus altilis), 278. Robust Yellow Bat (Scotophilus robustus), 279. Lesser Yellow Bat (Scotophilus borbonicus), 280. Eastern Greenish Yellow Bat (Scotophilus viridis), 281. Ejeta’s Yellow Bat (Scotophilus ejetai), 282. Schreber’s Yellow Bat (Scotophilus nigrita), 283. Robbins’s Yellow Bat (Scotophilus nucella), 284. Andrew Rebori’s Yellow Bat (Scotophilus andrewreborii), 285. Western Greenish Yellow Bat (Scotophilus nigritellus), 286. Livingstone’s Yellow Bat (Scotophilus livingstonii), 287. Trujillo's Yellow Bat (Scotophilus trujilloi), 288. African Yellow Bat (Scotophilus dinganii), 289. Eritrean Yellow Bat (Scotophilus colias), 290. North American Evening Bat (Nycticeius humeralis), 291. Cuban Evening Bat (Nycticeius cubanus), 292. Temminck’s Mysterious Bat (Nycticetus aenobarbus)

Distribution. NE Afghanistan , Pakistan , India , Sri Lanka , Nepal , Bhutan , Bangladesh , SC & SE China (Yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong, and Fujian) including Hainan I, Myanmar , Thailand , Laos , Vietnam (including Cat Ba and Phu Quoc Is), and N & E Cambodia .