Fea's tube-nosed bat

Species of bat

Fea's tube-nosed bat

Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)^[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Chiroptera
Family:	Vespertilionidae
Genus:	Murina
Species:	M. feae
Binomial name
*Murina feae* Thomas, 1891
Synonyms
Murina cineracea Csorba & Furey, 2011

Fea's tube-nosed bat (Murina feae), also known as the ashy tube-nosed bat, is a species in the vesper bat in the family Vespertilionidae, found in southeastern Asia (including Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam) and southern China.^[2]^[3] They have tube-shaped nostrils (hence the name) which assist them with their feeding.^[4] It is named after Italian naturalist Leonardo Fea.

Originally described by Oldfield Thomas in 1891, it was later synonymized with the little tube-nosed bat (M. aurata). In 2011, populations of Scully's tube-nosed bat (M. tubinaris) from Southeast Asia were described as a new species, the ashy tube-nosed bat (M. cineracea). The ashy-gray bat was one of 126 new species found in the Greater Mekong region during 2011, discovered by a team from the Hungarian Natural History Museum (HNHM) and Fauna and Flora International (FFI).^[4]^[5] There were two other tube-nosed bats found in Southeast Asia in 2011: Beelzebub's tube-nosed bat (M. beelzebub) and Walston's tube-nosed bat (M. walstoni).^[4] However, further analysis found that populations of M. cineracea belong to Thomas's M. feae, which was also found to be distinct from M. aurata; M. feae was thus revived as a distinct species.^[2]^[1]

The former name "ashy" comes from the color of their dorsal fur, while the ventral fur is dark gray, and there is some white fur on the breast area. In some areas the tips of the hair are dark.^[4]^[6] It lacks the golden guard hairs so common in other members of the genus Murina.^[4] This bat is small enough to fit in a person's hand, weighing 4.0 and 5.5 grams (0.14 and 0.19 oz).^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b Csorba, G. (2020). "Murina feae". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020: e.T84561002A84561005. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-2.RLTS.T84561002A84561005.en.
^ ^a ^b "Explore the Database". www.mammaldiversity.org. Retrieved 2023-05-18.
^ "Murina cineracea - #1497". American Society of Mammalogists. 2013. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved June 30, 2013.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Csorba, Gabor; Son, Nguyen Truong; Saveng, Ith; Furey, Neil M. (2011). "Revealing Cryptic Bat Diversity: Three New Murina and Redescription of M. tubinaris from Southeast Asia" (PDF). Journal of Mammalogy. 92 (4). American Society of Mammalogists: 891–904. doi:10.1644/10-MAMM-A-269.1. S2CID 54664309.
^ Catterick, Ally (September 2, 2011). "Three New Bat Species Discovered in Indochina". Fauna and Flora. Retrieved June 30, 2013.
^ "Three New Species of Murina from Vietnam & Cambodia". Southeast, Asian Bat Conservation Research Unit. September 19, 2011. Retrieved June 30, 2013.