The northern cave bat (Vespadelus caurinus ) is a vespertilionid bat that occurs in most of Australia.
An insectivore is a carnivorous plant or animal that eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which also refers to the human practice of e...
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
Among animals, viviparity is the development of the embryo inside the body of the parent. The term 'viviparity' and its adjective form 'viviparous'...
A fossorial animal is one adapted to digging which lives primarily but not solely, underground. Some examples are badgers, naked mole-rats, clams, ...
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starts withA species of Vespadelus, smaller insectivorous microbats, which are tiny in size and often dwell in caves. The weight range is 2.3 to 4.2 grams, with an average of 3.1 grams. The length of the forearm is 26.6 to 31.7 millimetres, head and body is 32 to 40 mm, the tail is 24 to 35 mm, ear from base to tip is 8 to 12 mm long. The fur colour is greyish brown, darker at the base and warmer brown at the rump. They are exceptionally agile in their flight capabilities.
The birthing season of V. caurinus is around October to February, the austral summer, and they produce up to two young.
The species occurs in the monsoonal tropics of Australia from the Kimberly region of Western Australia, throughout the Top End of the Northern Territory and the lower Gulf of Carpentaria into north-western Queensland. They inhabit the inside of caves or boulder piles, beneath overhanging rocks, or occupying small crevices and cracks at cliff faces. Some built structures are also exploited by Vespadelus caurinus, abandoned mines and buildings and subterranean installations such as storm-water culverts. They are also known to occupy the nests of fairy martins, the bird species Petrochelidon ariel. V. caurinus forages for insects in monsoonal forest and open woodland close to running water.
The species is one of many bats found near the northern city of Darwin. They occur at the Casuarina Coastal Reserve, inhabiting the observation posts installed during the second world war. They are observed to cohabitat with other microbat species, the common sheathtail species Taphozous georgianus and dusky leaf-nosed species Hipposideros ater.
Vespadelus caurinus superficially resembles the species Vespadelus douglasorum, except for the larger size and tinges of yellow in the fur of that species; both species occur in the Kimberley region of the northwest. They may only be easily distinguished from Vespadelus finlaysoni by the locality, which do not overlap, or comparison of forearm length as less than 32 mm and usually smaller size overall; the second method of diagnosis is less certain as size ranges are variable in both species.