Common pipistrelle
| Common Pipistrelle | |
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| Species: | P. pipistrellus
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| Pipistrellus pipistrellus (Schreber, 1774)
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The Common Pipistrelle Pipistrellus pipistrellus is a small pipistrelle bat whose very large range extends across most of Europe, North Africa, southwestern Asia, and possibly into Korea. It is one of the most common bat species in the British Isles.
The Common Pipistrelle is the smallest bat found in Europe. It is 3.5–5.2 cm (1.4–2.0 in) long along the head-and-body, with the tail adding 2.3–3.6 cm (0.91–1.42 in). The body mass can range from 3.5 to 8.5 g (0.12 to 0.30 oz), with the wingspan ranging from 18 to 25 cm (7.1 to 9.8 in).[1] Its brown fur is variable in tone. It is common in woodland and farmland but is also found in towns, where it roosts in lofts and buildings.
In 1999 the Common Pipistrelle was split into two species on the basis of different-frequency echo-location calls. The Common Pipistrelle uses a call of 45 kHz, while the Soprano Pipistrelle echo-locates at 55 kHz. Since the two species were distinguished, a number of other differences, in appearance, habitat and food, have also been discovered.
Echolocation
The frequencies used by this bat species for echolocation lie between 45 and 76 kHz, have most energy at 47 kHz and have an average duration of 5.6 ms. [2][3]
References
- Template:IUCN2006 Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is of least concern.
- ^ Mammals of Europe. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. 1993. ISBN 0-691-09160-9.
{{cite book}}: Cite uses deprecated parameter|authors=(help) - ^ Parsons, S. and Jones, G. (2000) 'Acoustic identification of twelve species of echolocating bat by discriminant function analysis and artificial neural networks.' J Exp Biol., 203: 2641-2656.
- ^ Obrist, M.K., Boesch, R. and Flückiger, P.F. (2004) 'Variability in echolocation call design of 26 Swiss bat species: Consequences, limits and options for automated field identification with a synergic pattern recognition approach.' Mammalia., 68 (4): 307-32.
External links
- ARKive Pipistrellus pipistrellus and Pipistrellus pygmaeus Photographs and videos.