Genus Nyctophilus Leach, 1821

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• Nyctophilus Leach, W.E. 1821. The characters of seven genera of bats with foliaceous appendages to the nose. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 13: 73-82 pl. 7 [publication date established from Raphael, S. 1970. The publication dates of the Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, Series 1, 1791–1875. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society of London 2: 61–76 [75]] [74, 78].

  Type species:

   Nyctophilus geoffroyi Leach, 1821 by monotypy.
• Barbastellus Gray, J.E. 1829. An attempt to improve the natural arrangement of the genera of bat, from actual examination; with some observations on the development of their wings. Philosophical Magazine London ns 6: 28-36 [31] [junior homonym of Barbastellus Gray, 1825; Gray (1829) op. cit. (31), named and described Barbastellus for a new species which he neither named nor described and he added that 'Vespertilio Barbastellus, Linn.' i.e. Vespertilio barbastellus Schreber, 1774 (the type species of Barbastellus Gray, 1825) perhaps also belonged in the genus; the first subsequent use of Barbastellus Gray, 1829 is by Gray, J.E. 1831. Descriptions of some new genera and species of bats. pp. 37–38 in Gray, J.E. (ed). The Zoological Miscellany. Pt 1. London : Treuttel, Würtz & Co. [38], when Barbastellus pacificus and Barbastellus novaehollandiae are named and described].

  Type species:

   Barbastellus pacificus Gray, 1831 by subsequent designation, see Dobson, G.E. 1878. Catalogue of the Chiroptera in the Collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum xlii 567 pp. 30 pls. [175].

  Secondary source:

   Gray, J.E. 1831. Descriptions of some new genera and species of bats. pp. 37-38 in Gray, J.E. (ed.). The Zoological Miscellany. London : Treuttel, Würtz & Co. Vol. 1.

 

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Mahoney, J.A. in Walton, D.W. (ed.) 1988. Zoological Catalogue of Australia Volume 5. Mammalia. Canberra : Australian Government Publishing Service x 274 pp. [Date published 13/Apr/1988]

 

Introduction

Van Dyck & Strahan (2008: 525-529) discuss some four un-named species, as either subspecies of N. timoriensis or new species. One, the Central Long-earded Bat, they note is ' … widespread in the arid Coolgardie and Gawler, and the semi-arid Avon, Hampton and Eyre-Yorke bioregions of temperate Western and South Australia'; as 'Nyctophilus spp.', they discuss the South-eastern and Tasmanian Long-eared Bats, from the Murray-Darling region and northern and eastern Tasmania; and from a small area in SW Western Australia they list another un-named species as the Western Long-eared Bat. They note that N. timoriensis is 'currently under study'.

Resolution of the problem resulted from Parnaby's (2009) comparative molecular and morphological study: this study considers N. timoriensis to be a nomen dubium, removing it from the Australian list, and recognises five taxa, previously referred to N. timoriensis. Two subspecies are recognised in N. major Gray, 1844: the nominate subspecies N. major major from the very south-west corner of Western Australia; and a new subspecies N. major tor Parnaby, 2009 from slightly further north in Western Australia across the southern regions to Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. A new species, N. corbenii Parnaby, 2009 is described for the populations in the Murray Darling region; N. daedalus and N. sherrini are recognised to occur mainly around the far north of Western Australia and the Northern Territory and northern and south-eastern Tasmania, respectively.

 

Excluded Taxa

Misidentifications

Verpertilionidae: Nyctophilus timoriensis (Geoffroy, 1806) — Parnaby, H.E. 2009. A taxonomic review of Australian Greater Long-eared Bats previously known as Nyctophilus timoriensis (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) and some associated taxa. The Australian Zoologist 35(1): 39-81 [39]

 

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA and IMCRA regions

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Other Regions

Lord Howe Island terrestrial & freshwater

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Australian Capital Territory
  • New South Wales: Bulloo River basin, Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Northern Territory: Lake Eyre basin, N Gulf, N coastal, W plateau
  • Queensland: Bulloo River basin, Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, N Gulf, NE coastal
  • South Australia: Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, S Gulfs, SE coastal, W plateau
  • Tasmania
  • Victoria: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Western Australia: N coastal, NW coastal, SW coastal, W plateau
• Papua New Guinea

Distribution References

General References

Parnaby, H.E. 2009. A taxonomic review of Australian Greater Long-eared Bats previously known as Nyctophilus timoriensis (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) and some associated taxa. The Australian Zoologist 35(1): 39-81

van Dyck, S. & Strahan, R. 2008. The Mammals of Australia. Third Edition. Sydney : Reed New Holland 887 pp.

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
04-Feb-2023	Nyctophilus Leach, 1821	04-Feb-2023	MODIFIED
04-Dec-2018	CHIROPTERA	31-May-2022	MODIFIED
22-Nov-2010		22-Nov-2010	MOVED
04-Dec-2018		18-Nov-2010	MOVED
		12-Feb-2010	(import)