Scotorepens orion Troughton 1937

168.

Eastern Broad-nosed Bat

Scotorepens orion

French: Sérotine orion / German: Ostliche Breitnasenfledermaus / Spanish: Scotorepo de orién

Other common names: Orion Broad-nosed Bat

Taxonomy. Scotetnus orion Troughton, 1937,

“suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales,” Australia.

This species is monotypic.

Distribution. NE & SE Queensland, E New South Wales, and E Victoria.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 43-9-53-1 mm, tail 29-5-37-9 mm, ear 10-6-13-1 mm, forearm 32-4-38-8 mm; weight 7-14-1 g. Forearm size increases in colder regions. Dorsal pelage is rich dark brown (hairs are not markedly bicolored); ventral pelage is drabber. Ears are relatively slender and subtriangular, anterior edge being smoothly convex with rounded tip (ears shorter than in the Inland Broad-nosed Bat, S. balstoni); tragus is evenly curved upward, with concave anterior edge, moderately convex posterior edge, and narrow and pointed tip. Muzzle is broad, with square shape and inflated glands on either side; nostrils are simple and rounded, diverging from one another. Bare parts of face, ears, and membranes are dark brown. Wings attach at base offifth toe, and uropatagium extends from long calcarto tail tip; calcar stretches about halfway to tail and has small calcaneal lobe. Glans penis has up to eight spines on head in an almost circular cluster. Baculum is moderately long for Scotorepens (3-3-5 mm), with slender shaft thatis slightly curved in lateral view; distal head is bifurcated, with two short narrow prongs behind which shaft occasionally narrows slightly before enlarging into slight lateral flanges; base is moderately wide, gently curved posterodorsally; groove on caudal and cranial surface of base is shallow and wide and meets as notch at apex. Skull is moderately long and wide, with wide rostrum; sagittal crest is absent, and lambdoidal crests are moderately developed; anterior palatal notch is semicircular, usually ending at mid-point or anterior edge of P*; I?is unicuspid and does not touch C'; P* is one-half to two-thirds the height of C' and touches it; lowerincisorsaretricuspid; and P, is small and less than one-half the height of P,.

Habitat. Rainforests, tall wet forests, vine forests, low open forests, cypress-pine woodlands, stringybark woodlands, and mixed woodlands from sea level up 720 m in Victoria.

Food and Feeding. The Eastern Broad-nosed Bat is insectivorous.

Breeding. Eastern Broad-nosed Bats probably breed once a year. Both sexes store sperm in winter, which delays ovulation and fertilization until spring. Females give birth to one young in late November to early December.

Activity patterns. The Eastern Broad-nosed Bat roosts in tree hollows and buildings. Call shape is shallow FM/QCF sweep, with frequencies of 34-38 kHz in New South Wales.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. Eastern Broad-nosed Bats roost in small colonies. A colony of pregnant females roosted in a hollow limb with a colony of Chocolate Wattled Bats (Chalinolobus morio) and their young.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List.

Bibliography. Baverstock et al. (1987), Churchill (2008), Hall & Richards (1979), Kitchener & Caputi (1985), Lunney & Barker (1987), Parnaby & Cherry (1992), Pennay & Lumsden (2008d), Pennay et al. (2004).