East Asian free-tailed bat


The East Asian free-tailed bat was formerly considered a synonym of the European free-tailed bat. Its range includes China, Japan, and the Korean Peninsula.

Taxonomy

It was described as a new species in 1862 by English zoologist Edward Blyth.
The holotype had been collected by Robert Swinhoe.
Blyth placed it in the now-defunct genus Nyctinomus with a binomial of N. insignis.
In 1873, George Edward Dobson published that he considered it a synonym of Nyctinomus cestonii, which itself was deemed a synonym of the European free-tailed bat by Oldfield Thomas.

Description

It has a forearm length of.

Biology and ecology

It is known to roost in caves.
It has long, narrow wings.

Range and habitat

It is known from several countries in Asia including China, North and South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan.

Conservation

As of 2019, it is evaluated as a data deficient species by the IUCN.
It meets the criteria for this classification because it is a poorly-studied species; little is known about its biology, ecology, population size and trend, nor threats that it is facing.
It is presumably threatened by the destruction of its roosts.
Cave roosting habitat is lost due to cave tourism and stone quarrying.