Rhinolophus malayanus Bonhote.
Creators: name: Andersen, Knud
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 1905
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Chiroptera
Rhinolophidae
Rhinolophus
Rhinolophus malayanus

description: 8. Rhinolophus malayanus Bonhote. (Plate III. fig. 6.) <i>Rhinolophus malayanus</i> Bonhote, Ease. Malayenses, Zool., i. (Oct. 1903) p. 15. <i>Diagnosis.</i> Closely allied to <i>Rh. borneensis,</i> but median anterior nasal swellings somewhat more differentiated. Small: forearm 4 <i>T</i> 2-42 <i>’</i> 8 mm. <i>Details.</i> Externally this Bat is <i>exceedingly</i> like <i>Rh. borneensis,</i> but the shape of the anterior nasal swellings is somewhat different. The colour, too, seems to be <i>constantly</i> different. The sella is, in vertical direction, a trifle shorter, but the difference is scarcely appreciable without actual comparison with <i>borneensis.</i> The lateral margins of the sella are, practically, parallel from base to summit; an extremely faint constriction can be traced, at least under a lens; summit of sella rounded. Plagiopatagium inserted on tarsus, or very nearly so. <i>Colour.</i> (1) Biserat specimens; two &amp;female; ad.; August and September; teeth slightly worn; in alcohol; unfaded. <i>—</i> Upper side a rather dark brown shade of “ drab "; this colour is confined to the tips of the hairs; the much broader base of the hairs so light <i>“</i> ecru-drab <i>”</i> as to approach whitish; under side whitish “ecrudrab, <i>”</i> somewhat darker on the sides of the body. (2) Laos specimen; ad.; teeth slightly worn; skin.—Very much lighter. Upper side bright “ cinnamon, <i>”</i> base of fur <i>“</i> cream buff”; horseshoe patch* on back dark brown; under side bufi’. <b>* A</b> dark-coloured patch on the upper side of the body, horseshoe-shaped, or like <i>a</i> V, <i>the</i> branches starting on each shoulder, convexity (or angle-point) directed backwards. <i>It</i> is curiously characteristic of many species of the families <i>Rhinolophidae</i> and <i>Phyllostomatidae,</i> but often (quite individually) more or less, or even <i>completely</i>, obliterated, <i>especially</i>, of course, when the fur also is dark-coloured. Being, <i>as</i> a rule, more common and more distinct in young or immature individuals, it is, <i>probably</i>, an inheritance from some remote ancestors of the two families. <i>Rhinolophidte</i> and <i>PhyUostomatidoe</i> have, probably, had a common origin. It looks like a dark and a light “ phase.” The dark phase differs from that of <i>Rh. borneensis,</i> chiefly, in having the under side of the body much lighter, in strong contrast to the colour of the upper side, and in having also the base of the hairs of the upper side much lighter. The light phase is, as will be seen from this description, totally different from the “ cadmium orange <i>”</i> phase of <i>borneensis</i> (and more approaching the light phase of <i>Rh. affinis himalayanus).</i> <i>Skull.</i> Essential characters as in <i>Rh. borneensis,</i> but the median anterior nasal swellings somewhat more distinctly marked oft' from the lateral anterior swellings. <i>Dentition.</i> p3 external; p., and p4 almost in contact; p2 in row, cusp extremely small. <i>Measurements.</i> On p. 92. <i>Distribution.</i> Biserat (Jalor, Malay Peninsula). Laos Mts. (Siam). <i>Technical name.</i> The type is in the British Museum. <i>Remarks.</i> From the Laos Mountains, Siam, I have seen one dried skin only (Tomes Collection); it looks like a light-coloured phase of <i>Rh. malayanus;</i> the nasal swellings of the (fragmentary) skull have the shape characteristic of this species. But fresh material from that region is desirable.
description: Published as part of <i>Andersen, Knud, 1905, On some Bats of the Genus Rhinolophus, with Remarks on their Mutual Affinities, and Descriptions of Twenty-six new Forms., pp. 75-145 in Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 2</i> on pages 89-90, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3757451