著者

今泉 吉典

出版者

THE MAMMAL SOCIETY OF JAPAN

雑誌

哺乳動物学雑誌: The Journal of the Mammalogical Society of Japan (ISSN:05460670)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.4, no.2, pp.35-39, 1968

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Two species of <I>Nyctalus</I>, the large noctule <I>N. lasiopterus aviator</I> THOMAS, 1911 and the lesser noctule <I>N. noctula motoyoshii</I> KURODA, 1934 (=<I>Nyctalus noctula</I> NAMIE, 1889), have been known from Japan. The former is common everywhere, but the latter seems to be rare and is known only by two missing syntypes studied by Namie. The author recently had an opportunity to examine several specimens of a kind of smaller noctule obtained from Japan, which were remarkably different from <I>motoyoshii</I> and much similar to the typical <I>noctula</I>. This raised a doubt about the taxonomic status of <I>motoyoshii</I>. Then, the original description and the figures of this species were carefully examined and several characters differing from the genus <I>Nyctalus</I> were found out by the author. On the other hand, all the characters of <I>motoyoshii</I> mentioned in the original description well agree with <I>Vespertilio</I> from Japan. Therefore, <I>motoyoshii</I> seems to be nothing but a synonym of <I>Vespertilio superans</I> which is rather common to the type locality of the former, Chichibu, central Japan.