species: Egyptian Sheath-tailed Bat Taphozous nudiventris, see below.
EGYPTIAN SHEATH-TAILED BAT (NAKED-BELLIED TOMB BAT, NAKED-RUMPED BAT) Taphozous nudiventris Cretzschmar, 1830
Pl. 4
Subspecies occurring in Egypt: T. n. nudiventris.
Arabic: Abu buz al-kabir
Egyptian Sheath-tailed Bat (Taphozous nudiventris)
Identification: Length 112–136mm; Tail 22–34mm; Forearm 26–29mm. Large sheath-tailed bat. Ears long, narrow, blunt-tipped, and set wide apart on head. Tragus distinctive, thick-based with clear lobes and flat top. Muzzle, chin, sides of face, and lower back and front are entirely naked. Fur short, pale brown on back, grayer and lighter below. Sexes distinguished in hand by presence of small gular sac in male. Tail length very variable.
Egyptian Sheath-tailed Bat Taphozous nudiventris
Range and status: Africa south to Democratic Republic of Congo. Arabia and southwestern Asia east to Burma. In Egypt, Delta (Gharbiya Governorate), Cairo and environs (inc. Giza where it roosts at each of the three pyramids), Fayoum, Nile Valley south to Luxor (Karnak). Red Sea near Quseir. Can be common.
Habitat: Roosts in very dense colonies in crevices in cliffs, often sandstone, old ruins, wells, mosques, etc.
Habits: Dense colonies can be detected by accumulated droppings and unpleasant ‘rubbery’ smell. Voice loud squeak, described as metallic Tends to hang from walls rather than roofs. May travel long distances from roosting to feeding sites. Flight fast, high, and direct. In Egypt, accumulates fat in autumn and Hies throughout the year. In the Delta, said to be especially common in July and August when it feeds on the adult moth of the Cotton Leaf Worm Spodoptera littoralis, a pest species. Remains have been found in Barn Owl pellets.
Similar species: Geoffrey’s Tomb Bat is fully furred with (in the hand) a differently shaped tragus. Egyptian Slit-faced Bat, also common around the pyramids, has a much more erratic flight, is fully furred, and tail is totally surrounded by flight membrane.
Slit-faced Bats—Family Nycteridae
11 species worldwide with 1 in Egypt
Small- to medium-sized insectivorous bats with large, elongated ears that are held straight up from the head, not angled outward. Tragus small. The name comes from the distinct slit or furrow down the center of the face, which runs from between the eyes to the snout. Eyes very small. Tail structure is unique in that the tip is T-shaped.
EGYPTIAN SLIT-FACED BAT Nycteris thebaka E. Geoffroy St-Hilaire, 1813
Pl. 4
Subspecies occurring in Egypt: N. t. thebaica.
Arabic: Khuffash tiba
Identification: Length 84–126mm; Tail 45–56mm; Forearm 43–49mm. Small, broad-winged bat with rather broad, erect ears up to 40mm long. Tragus simple, rounded, and relatively small. Tail long but entirely enclosed within flight membrane and, uniquely amongst Egyptian bats, tip T-shaped. Wings broad and rounded. Distinguished from other Egyptian bats by lobed groove running down center of face. Eyes small but distinct. Fur rather long. Brownish to brown-gray above, paler below. Naked skin of muzzle and base of ears pale pink.
Range and status: Throughout Africa except Sahara and rainforest regions. Palestine and Israel and western Arabia, vagrant in Corfu. In Egypt, Delta, Wadi Natrun, Cairo and its environs (inc. Giza pyramids), Fayoum (inc. Shakshuk), and Nile Valley south to Dendera, Luxor, Aswan, and Sudanese border. Records from Red Sea at Quseir.
Egyptian Slit-faced Bat (Nycteris thebaica)
Habitat: Wide habitat tolerance. Roosts in caves, tombs, ruins, houses, wells, etc. Not a desert species.
Egyptian Slit-faced Bat Nycteris thebaica
Habits: Roosts in colonies ranging from a few individuals to several hundred. Reported to fly early and feeds on insects, inc. moths, grasshoppers, beetles, and also, reportedly, scorpions. Prey carried to regular feeding points that can be told by the accumulation of inedible prey parts. Flight erratic. In Egypt, from early March males leave colonies and females form maternity roosts, though individual males remain. Breeding April-July. Generally 1 young. Outside breeding season may roost with Arabian Horseshoe Bat Rhinolophus clivosus.
Notes: According to Qumsiyah (1985), a further species Nycteris hispida may occur in southern Egypt since there is,, an unconfirmed record from northern Sudan.
Similar species: See Egyptian Sheath-tailed Bat. In the hand, the facial slit and the T-shaped tip to the tail make this species unique in Egypt.
Horseshoe Bats—Family Rhinolophidae
69 species worldwide, 3 in Egypt.
A well-defined family of bats, but identification of individual species—even in the hand—can be very difficult. In the hand, horseshoe bats can be told from all other bats, except the leaf-nosed bats, by the absence of a tragus and by the distinctive horseshoe-shaped nose structure to which they owe their name. The ears are large and broad. Hind limbs are poorly developed. Tail entirely enclosed in interfemoral membrane, though in many species the membrane comes to a point at the tail tip. The wings are relatively broad, making these bats amongst the most maneuverable flyers in the order. At rest, horseshoe bats wrap their wings around themselves. They roost hanging, rather than clinging, from walls and ceilings. Colonies may be huge, but some species are solitary and at least one species, the Lesser Horseshoe Bat Rhinolophus hipposideros, is known only from a single specimen in Egypt.
Horseshoe bats are very difficult to tell apart, even in the hand. Indeed, the identification of one species, Mehely’s Horseshoe Bat Rhinolophus mehelyi, is still in some doubt due to confusion with the extremely similar Mediterranean Horseshoe Bat Rhinolophus euryale. In this instance, the current author has followed Qumsiyah (1985). In the field, key considerations should be location and habitat. In the hand, size and detailed study of the noseleaf pattern is essential. For skull characteristics of most species, see Harrison and Bates (1991). At roosts, horseshoe bat colonies tend to be loose and wide-spaced as opposed to the very dense colonies formed by some species of vesper bats. At rest, the Rhinolophus bats hang with the wings wrapped tightly around them.
