Gray, 1821
Barbastelles
These are small Vespertilionid bats with the ears broad, forward facing, rather square and joined across the forehead; they are not greatly elongated (Ble1). The muzzle is peculiar, with the nostrils opening upwards and outwards on a flat median space between two high lateral swellings and behind a prominent median pad. The skull has a long, rounded braincase and a weak rostrum which is concave above. The tympanic bullae are not greatly enlarged and the zygomatic arches are not expanded in their middle parts (Fig. 155). The first upper incisor (I2) is bicuspidate and broad; the second (I3) is smaller, its crown excavated postero-laterally. The small upper premolar (PM2) is minute and displaced inwards from the toothrow. The cheekteeth are normal. M1 and M2 have large protocones but lack hypocones. M3 is more than half the crown area of M2, with a well developed third commissure and metacone (Fig. 156). The protoconids of lower molars are slender and high.
Dental formula: i - 2 3 c 1 pm - 2 - 4 m 1 2 3 = 34.
1 2 3 1 - 2 - 4 1 2 3
The genus includes two species with a geographical range that includes the Canary Islands, Morocco, Egypt, Ethiopia; England to China and Japan (Koopman, 1993). One species is found in the Indian Subcontinent:
Barbastella leucomelas