Greater Bent-wing Bat

Miniopterus magnater  Sanborn, 1931

Taxonomy
Family: Miniopteridae
Genus: Miniopterus
Scientific name: Miniopterus magnater  Sanborn, 1931
Synonyms: M. macrodens  Maeda, 1982
M. magnater macrodens  Maeda, 1982
M. magnater magnater  Sanborn, 1931
M. schreibersii magnater  Sanborn, 1931
Common name: Greater Bent-winged Bat
Other name: Large/Western Bent-winged Bat, Large/Western Long-fingered Bat
Remark: M. magnater was initially considered a subspecies of M. schreibersii but was later elevated to the status of an independent species. Furthermore, there are discernible differences between the populations in Southeast Asia and those in Papua New Guinea, indicating the need for further research into their taxonomic classification.

Morphology

Characteristics
Color: The body fur is long, silky, dense, and lustrous. The dorsal fur exhibits various shades, typically appearing as uniform dark gray or dark brown (black at the base and deep gray or brown at the tip). Some individuals display fur color variations, with the head and upper body being brown and the lower body being dark gray, or partial fur whitening (such as the neck, back, and buttocks). The ventral fur is relatively lighter in color. Juvenile bats have a relatively darker overall fur color, appearing grayish-black.
Ear: The ear pinna is short and round, with a rounded and non-protruding ear tip that does not extend beyond the pelage of the crown significantly. The tragus is thumb-shaped, with a short and blunt tip that curves forward. The color of the ear pinna and tragus varies, showing substantial individual differences, ranging from uniform deep gray to a gradient of dark gray above and light white below.
Head: The skull is highly elevated, and the snout is wide and short.
Limbs: The wing membrane extends to the ankle. At rest, the wingtips fold outward, extending beyond the wingspan.
Tail: The tail is long, completely enveloped by the interfemoral membrane. The calcar is long and unkeeled.
Illustration of Bat Anatomy Illustration of Bat Anatomy
Body measurements
Size: Medium Bent-winged bat
Body: 58.0 - 75.0 mm
Tail: 52.0 - 64.0 mm
Ears: 11.0 - 17.0 mm
Hind foot: 9.0 - 13.0 mm
Forearm: 48.0 - 54.0 mm
Weight: 11.3 - 21.3 g
Wing morphology
Wing span: -
Wing area: -
Wing loading: -
Aspect ratio: -
Tip-shape index: -
Reference: -

Ecology

Habitat: Roosting primarily in caves such as water tunnel and abandoned mine caves, usually be found in rock crevices, fissures, or drainage holes. They may also inhabit gaps in buildings, rocks, and trees.
Habit: They are known to roost in groups, but solitary individuals are also observed. Colony sizes can exceed a thousand individuals, but the exact size of local colonies is still under research. Local colonies range from a single individual to over 900 individuals (Lin Ma Hang mine cave recorded a breeding colony of over 900 individuals in summer #). When roosting, individuals tightly cluster or overlap with each other and typically aggregate with conspecifics. During the winter, they disperse in a scattered manner within their habitat, either roosting individually or in small groups.
Reproduction: Mating occurs from September to November, with breeding occurring from June to July and lactation period from July to August. Usually, only one offspring is produced. They form large breeding colonies with Myotis chinensis, Myotis pilosus, and Miniopterus pusillus, with Miniopterus spp. typically occupying the central positions within the colony.
Hibernation: Hibernation typically occurs from late December to February, but the exact duration varies depending on weather conditions.
Flight: Due to the lack of specific wing parameters, reference is made to the closely related Miniopterus fuliginosus. The wing loading and aspect ratio are considered moderate to high, suggesting fast flight speed and excellent flight efficiency but with reduced agility. This wing structure is suitable for navigating and foraging in open mines or relatively uncluttered environments.
Migration: With its slender wing shape and relatively high aspect ratio, it possesses excellent flight efficiency and long-distance migration capabilities, although specific migration routes have not been documented in the literature.
Foraging: They typically leave their roosts after sunset and are known to prefer open spaces above the tree canopy for foraging. They engage in medium to high-speed flight and occasionally fly close to the ground, streams, or waterways while foraging.
Diet: As insectivorous bats, they primarily feed on insects by aerial feeding. Due to their fast flight speed and reduced agility compared to bats with lower wing loading, they are unable to employ a sweeping motion to capture a large number of small insects from the orders Diptera and Lepidoptera. Instead, they tend to prefer larger insects from the order Coleoptera and order Lepidoptera, which provide higher energy intake.
Lepidoptera 75.5 %
Coleoptera 10.3 %
Isoptera 8.5 %
Diptera 3.9 %
Hymenoptera 0.7 %
Hemiptera 1 %

Diet composition of M. magnater  in
Hong Kong (Peak) (Ades, 1994) #

Lepidoptera 87.6 %
Diptera 7.1 %
Isoptera 3.4 %
Coleoptera 0.6 %
Hymenoptera 0.6 %
Hemiptera 0.6 %

Diet composition of M. magnater  in
Hong Kong (Lin Ma Hang) (Ades, 1994) #

Diet Composition Diet Composition

Distribution

Local: New Territory, Hong Kong Island and Lantau Island #
Global: Northeast India (Meghalaya), South China (including Hong Kong and Hainan Island), most of mainland Southeast Asia, Sunda Islands (Sumatra, Borneo, Java, Nusa Penida, and Timor), and Central Moluccas (Seram and Ambon Islands) to New Guinea; it may occur in Bangladesh (Ibáñez & Juste, 2019)

Local distribution map #

Global distribution map
(Ibáñez & Juste, 2019)

Status and Conservation
First record: 1990
Origin: Native
Local status: Common (Shek & Chan, 2005) #
National status: Near Threatened (Red List of China Vertebrates)
Global status: Least Concern (IUCN Red List)
Potential threat: TBC

Echolocation

Full-spectrum sonograms of various wild echolocation and social calls of local individuals are included in this session. If you are interested, please sign up and contact Admin by E-mail for acquiring access right.

Parameter Value
Call structure FM-QCF
Duration 4.35 ± 1.52 ms
Inter pulse interval 65.21 ± 18.93 ms
Peak frequency 47.36 ± 2.48 kHz
Start frequency 85.30 ± 9.89 kHz
End frequency 42.30 ± 17.02 kHz
Region:
 		Thailand
Method: Hand release / Flight tent
Reference: Hughes et al., 2011
Parameter Value
Call structure FM-QCF
Duration 3.49 ± 0.84 ms
Bandwidth - kHz
Peak frequency 49.25 ± 3.10 kHz
Start frequency 78.54 ± 7.31 kHz
End frequency 41.06 ± 2.24 kHz
Region:
 		China (Hainan Island & Shanxi)
Method: Flight tent
Reference: Wu et al., 2019
Parameter Value
Call structure FM-QCF
Duration - ms
Inter pulse interval - ms
Peak frequency - kHz
Highest frequency - kHz
Lowest frequency - kHz
Region:
 		Hong Kong
Method: tbc
Reference: tbc

Bibliography

Ades, G. W. J. (1994). A comparative ecological study of insectivorous bats (Hipposideridae, Vespertilionidae and Rhinolophidae) in Hong Kong, with special reference to dietary seasonality. [Doctoral dissertation, The University of Hong Kong].

Borissenko, A. V. and Kruskop, S. V. 2003. Bats of Vietnam and adjacent territories. an identification manual. Geos, Moscow, Russia.

Zhou, Y. W., Deng, L. G., Wang, G. D., Zhang, J. R., Li, Y. C., & Chen, Z. (2014) Comparison of the Gonadal Development of the Male Rousettus leschenaultii and Miniopterus magnate in Hainan Island. Journal of Hainan Normal University (Natural Science), 27(2), 171-174.

Hughes, A. C., Satasook, C., Bates, P. J., Soisook, P., Sritongchuay, T., Jones, G., & Bumrungsri, S. (2011). Using echolocation calls to identify Thai bat species: Vespertilionidae, Emballonuridae, Nycteridae and Megadermatidae. Acta Chiropterologica, 13(2), 447-455.

Ibáñez, C., & Juste, J. (2019). Miniopteridae. In Mittermeier, R. A., & Wilson, D. E. (Eds.), Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 9 Bats. (pp. 674-709). Lynx Edicions.

Jiang, Z. G., Jiang, J. P., Wang, Y. Z., Zhang, E., Zhang, Y. Y., Li, L. L., Xie, F., Cai, B., Cao, L., Zheng, G. M., Dong, L., Zhang, Z. W., Ding, P., Luo, Z. H., Ding, C. Q., Ma, Z. J., Tang, S. H., Cao, W. X., Li, C. W., Hu, H. J., Ma, Y., Wu, Y., Wang, Y. X., Zhou, K. Y., Liu, S. Y., Chen, Y. Y., Li, J. T., Feng, Z. J., Wang, Y., Wang, B., Li, C., Song, X. L., Cai, L., Zang, C. X., Zeng, Y., Meng, Z. B., Fang, H. X., & Ping, X. G. (2016). Red List of China’s Vertebrates. Biodiversity Science 24(5), 500‑551.

Shek, C. T. (2006). A Field Guide to the Terrestrial mammals of Hong Kong. Friends of country park and cosmos book limited.

Shek, C. T. & Chan, C. S. M. (2005) Roost Censuses of Cave Dwelling Bats of Hong Kong. Hong Kong Biodiversity, 10, 1-8.

Wu, H., Jiang, T., Liu, S., Lu, G., & Feng, J. (2020). Acoustic identification of two morphologically similar bat species, Miniopterus magnater and Miniopterus fuliginosus (Chiroptera, Miniopteridae). Mammalia, 84(2), 201-206.

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  • Last Review Date: 01/05/2024
Cite as:
Hong Kong Bat Radar. (01/05/2024). A Field Guide to Bats of Hong Kong: Greater Bent-wing Bat (Miniopterus magnater ). https://hkbatradar.com/en/miniopterus_magnater
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# Due to the striking resemblance and overlapping body sizes of M. fuliginosus and M. magnater, species identification based solely on visual observation and measurements is challenging. As a result, the existing local literature, including information on population numbers, distribution, and diet, may not be entirely accurate. However, this website will still provide this information as a point of reference.