Rhinolophus hipposiderus subsp. minimus Heugl.
Creators: name: Andersen, Knud
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 1905
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Chiroptera
Rhinolophidae
Rhinolophus
Rhinolophus hipposiderus
Rhinolophus hipposiderus minimus heugl.

description: 27 <i>a.</i> Rhinolophus hipposiderus minimus Heugl. <i>Rhinolophus minimus</i> Heuglin, N. Act. Acad. Caes. Leon. -Car. xxix. (1861) p. 6. <i>Rhinolophus hipposiderus minimus</i> Andersen, Ann. &amp; <i>Mag</i>. Nat. Hist. (7) xiv. (1904) p. 455. <i>Diagnosis.</i> Small: forearm 34'7-38 mm. <i>Details.</i> As lately pointed ont by me elsewhere (<i>Z</i>. s. <i>c</i>.), V. Heuglin’s <i>Rh. minimus,</i> first described from Keren in Erythrea (type in the Stuttgart Museum), is a well-marked geographical race of <i>Rh. hipposiderus,</i> differing from the Central European form by its considerably smaller size. At the same time I mentioned that the British Museum possesses an example from Sennar indistinguishable from the type specimen of <i>minimus.</i> A subsequent examination of the whole series of <i>Rh. hipposiderus</i> preserved in the British Museum has revealed the rather surprising fact that <i>Rh. h. minimus</i> is by no means confined to Keren and Sennar, but <i>generally distributed over the Mediterranean Subregion.</i> It differs from the Central European form in being <i>in every respect smaller</i>; in some respects, as it seems, <i>absolutely</i> smaller, in others at least on an average. I find the length of the forearm to be the best means for a ready discrimination: in <i>minimus,</i> 34'7-38 mm.; in the typical form, 39-41'7 mm. For other details, <i>cf.</i> the measurements on p. 143. The skull is markedly smaller, the nasal swellings a trifle narrower, the teeth slightly smaller. <i>Distribution.</i> 32 specimens examined. As it is of some interest to have the range of this hitherto overlooked form exactly determined, I subjoin a list of the localities from which I have seen examples, together with measurements of the forearm; it might perhaps lead to further investigation:— Keren (1, the type): forearm 36'3. Sennar(l): 36-5. Cyprus (6): 347-377. Smyrna (1): 37'5. Malta (8): 36-37. Middle Italy (Ostia 2): 35-7-36-8. Corsica (1): 377. Haute Savoie and Geneva (2): 37’7-38. Balearic Islands (7): 36-2-37'6. Seville t (1): 37 <i>’</i> 7. <i>Morocco</i> (Tangiers 1): 37'7. Portugal (Cintra 1): 36-2. . Summary of Distribution:—The Mediterranean Subregion, south eastwards to Sennar and Keren. Be it noted: there is no record from Egypt (and, very likely, it does not occur there: <i>of.</i> remarks on p. 143). <i>Remarks.</i> In the whole series of <i>Rh. hipposiderus</i> examined (apart from the British specimens, of course) I have not found any individual which I could not easily refer either to the southern or the northern form. I have some reason to believe that in certain <i>border districts (e. g.</i> S.W. Switzerland; <i>perhaps</i> also Cyprus) the two forms <i>occur together,</i> perhaps side by side, but <i>intermediate eXamples</i> I have never seen. They will probably be found.
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 140-141, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3757451