Tylonycteris fulvida

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Tylonycteris fulvida is an Asian bamboo bat in the family Vespertilionidae. It was long included within Tylonycteris pachypus, but a 2017 revision recognised the mainland lineage as a separate species.

Name and classification

Blyth described the bat in 1859 under the name Scotophilus fulvidus, from the Sittang River area of what is now Myanmar. Later classifications treated it as part of T. pachypus. The 2017 study compared skull measurements and both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA. Its authors restricted T. pachypus to Sundaic island populations and restored T. fulvida for the mainland group.

Distribution and habitat

The Mammal Diversity Database records the species across parts of South and Southeast Asia, including India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, southern China and mainland Southeast Asia. Its country-level list also includes Nepal, Singapore and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

In northern Indochina, the 2017 researchers found T. fulvida alongside the larger Tylonycteris tonkinensis, which is associated with woody bamboo groves. Older observations published under T. pachypus require attention to locality and identification before they can be assigned to this species.