Pipistrellus joffrei

Pipistrellus joffrei

Joffre’s Pipistrelle

Nyctalus joffrei Thomas, 1915a: 225; Kachin Hills, N. Burma

Previous records from Myanmar

Kachin State: Kachin Hills (type locality); Sagaing Division: 80 km (50 miles) west of Kindat (BMNH collection). There are no new records.

Descriptive characters

According to Thomas (1915 a), the pelage is a uniform pale brown, above and below. However, a specimen from the Chin Hills (BMNH.16.3.26.2) subsequently referred to this species has a short, silky pelage which is a darker, rich reddishbrown on the dorsal surface and with a ginger brown ventral surface. The forearm is 38.8 mm, based on a single specimen (Table 4) and the fifth digit of the wing is reduced, its tip reaching a point approximately half-way along the first phalanx of the fourth digit. The dorsal surface of the shaft of the penis has a bristly pad on its distal part. Thomas (1915 a) suggested that the penis is without a baculum. Hill (1966) suggested that if present, it is probably very small or rudimentary. The braincase is broad and rounded. The rostrum is short and wide with supraorbital tuber- cles. Each zygoma has an incipient de- scending process external to the third molar (M3). The second upper incisor (I3) is small, its height is subequal to that of the secondary cusp of the first (I2) and its crown area is about half of I2, which is itself weak relative to the size of the skull. The upper canine (C1) has a well defined posterior, accessory cusp. The first upper premolar (P2) is minute, displaced inwards from the toothrow and about one quarter the crown area of I2. The first lower premolar (P2) is not reduced, its height and crown area about equal to that of the second (P4).

Similar species

Pipistrellus joffrei is distinguished from all other species except possibly P. anthonyi (see below) by the reduction of the fifth dig- it of the wing. Apparently, its pelage is much paler than that of P. anthonyi but the presence of an intermediate coloured speci- men (BMNH.16.3.26.2), see above, casts doubt on the validity of P. anthonyi.

Taxonomic remarks

Pipistrellus joffrei was originally includ- ed in Nyctalus on account of the reduced fifth digit of the wing and the presence of the minute first upper premolar (P2). Pipistrellus joffrei also shares some dental and cranial characters with Philetor (Corbet and Hill, 1992). However, Tate (1942), Hill (1966) and Corbet and Hill (1992) suggest that the joffrei group of species that in- cludes anthonyi (see below) is most similar to the savii group of Pipistrellus (= Hyp- sugo).

Ecology

This species is endemic to Myanmar. Three specimens were collected from west of Kindat, where the ‘jungle’ was described by Wroughton (1916 a) as being ‘thicker near the river than further inland’.