(Schreber, 1774)
Common Pipistrelle
External characters (Table 90)
This is a small pipistrelle with an average forearm length of 31.0 mm (30.0-31.6 mm). The wings are relatively narrow. The tail is rather short, shorter than the head and body with only its extreme tip projecting from the membrane. The tibiae are short and the feet small. The pararhinal glandular swellings on the muzzle are well developed (Ppi1). The ears are short and broad; the anterior border of each is evenly convex; the tip is rounded and there is a concavity on the posterior border. The tragus (Fig. 211) is almost half the height of the pinna. The pelage is fine, dense and silky; it is a uniform buffy to chestnut brown on the head and back (Ppi2), with distinctly darker hair bases. The throat and belly are slightly paler but also have dark grey/black hair bases. The interfemoral and wing membranes are a uniform brown and essentially naked, although there are some hairs adjacent to the body and legs on the upper surface of the interfemoral membrane. The baculum is very small, with a narrow extended shaft and a bifid tip; the basal lobes are well developed and deflected ventrally (Fig. 205).
Cranial characters
The skull is small, with an average condylo-canine length of 10.9 mm (10.4-11.3 mm). The rostrum is relatively long and narrow, with a shallow median depression. The dorsal profile rises gradually from the nasal aperture to the lambda, with the braincase elevated above the rostrum; the lambda is curved downwards to the supraoccipital which is convex and forms the most posterior part of the skull. There is a slight depression over the anterior part of the orbit. The braincase is inflated but less elevated, robust and bulbous than that of P. paterculus . The sagittal crest is absent. The lambdoid crests are very weak. The zygomata are delicate and moderately flared outwards; they are without dorsal processes on the jugal bones. The palate is concave and parallel-sided. Palatal breadth (M3-M3) is significantly narrower (5.0 mm; 4.8-5.2 mm) than that of P. paterculus (5.5 mm; 5.3-5.9 mm). The coronoid process of each half mandible is scarcely elevated above the tip of the lower canine; its anterior surface is nearly vertical; its posterior surface declines gently to the condyle. The angular process is weak.
Dentition
- Upper toothrow length (C-M3) averages 4.2 mm (4.1-4.4 mm). The first upper incisor (I2) (Fig. 199) is inwardly sloping and bicuspidate, its secondary cusp about two-thirds the height of the principal one. The second incisor (I3) is equal in crown area to I2; its height almost attains the level of the secondary cusp of I2; it has a larger central and a smaller lateral accessory cusp; it is separated from the upper canine by a short diastema. The upper canine is robust; its posterior cutting edge has a well defined angle/ posterior cusp subequal to half the height of the shaft. The first upper premolar (PM2) is small, but not greatly reduced; it is equal in crown area to I2 and only a little displaced inwards from toothrow. The canine and second premolar (PM4) are not in contact. M1 is slightly narrower than M2 but its antero-posterior diameter is greater; the metacone predominates in each tooth, the protocones are robust and the hypocones distinct. M3 is about two-thirds the crown area of M2; it includes 3 commissures and a well developed metacone.
- The lower incisors are tricuspidate and overlapping, the third (I3) is situated adjacent to the canine. The lower canine is short and broad with a distinct antero-medial secondary cusp above the level of crown of the third incisor (i3). The first lower premolar (pm2) attains about half to three-quarters the height and two-thirds the crown area of the second (pm4). m1 and m2 are equal in size, the protoconid is the tallest cusp; the talonid exceeds the trigonid in size. m3 is smaller; the talonid is about equal to the trigonid in crown area.
Variation
Specimens from India and Pakistan are provisionally referred to the Iranian subspecies P. p. aladdin (Corbet and Hill, 1992). Those from north of the main massif of the Hindu-Kush Mountains in Afghanistan are referred to P. p. bactrianus (Gaisler, 1970a).