Lesser brown horseshoe bat

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Lesser brown horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus stheno) is a medium-sized bat in the horseshoe family. It lives in China, Indonesia (Java and Sumatra), Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. It was first described in 1905 by Knud Andersen from a specimen found in Malaysia. Some scientists have debated its classification, and a once-described subspecies (Rhinolophus stheno microglobosus) has been treated by some as a separate species.

The bat has a forearm about 45 mm long and a short tail. Its back is grey to reddish-brown, with a lighter belly. It resembles related species like Rhinolophus malayanus, but can be told apart by a slightly more inflated front part of the face (rostrum), a narrower space behind the eyes, and specific proportions of bones in the third finger.

Habitat includes forests, rubber plantations, and other agricultural areas. It roosts in caves and can be found up to 1,700 meters above sea level. Pregnancies occur from March to May, and lactation from May to July.

Conservation status: Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, because it likely has a large population and wide distribution. It is common in Thailand and may be less common in other parts of its range.