Gray, 1831
Leaf-nosed bats
The ears are pointed and usually separate (Hga1), although they may be connected by a low band across the forehead. There is no tragus but the antitragus is large. The tail is well developed, longer than the femur and included in the interfemoral membrane (Har3). Typically in local species, the noseleaf is comprised of an anterior leaf, which may or may not have a median emargination; an intermediate leaf and a posterior leaf (Fig. 268). The skull (Fig. 96) has a distinct but low sagittal crest which is not greatly developed in the interorbital region. The tympanic bullae are small and the cochleae moderately large. The first upper premolar (PM2) is small, functionless and compressed in the toothrow or displaced outwards, it is sometimes absent (Fig. 97). The small lower premolar (pm3) sometimes present in Rhinolophus (Fig. 79), is always absent in Hipposideros .
Dental formula: i - 2 - c 1 pm - 2 - 4 m 1 2 3 = 30.
1 2 - 1 - 2 - 4 1 2 3
The genus includes 53 species with a geographical range that extends from South Africa and Madagascar to Arabia, India, south-east Asia and Australia (Koopman, 1993). Twelve species are recorded from the Indian subcontinent.
Species of Hipposideros encountered in the Indian Subcontinent:
Hipposideros ater
Hipposideros cineraceus
Hipposideros durgadasi
Hipposideros fulvus
Hipposideros pomona
Hipposideros hypophyllus
Hipposideros galeritus
Hipposideros speoris
Hipposideros larvatus
Hipposideros armiger
Hipposideros lankadiva
Hipposideros diadema
Species identification
Jump to the Text Key of this genus Page 108: Genus Hipposideros.