Taiwan's bats

Taiwan is located off the southeastern coast of the Eurasian continent, north of the Philippines and southwest of Japan’s Ryukyu island chain. An island nation, the South China Sea sits to its southwest, the Luzon Strait to its south, the Philippine Sea to its east, and the East China Sea to its north. Taiwan’s territory is comprised of Taiwan proper and its adjacent islands. It’s total size is 36,197 km².

Located along the Tropic of Cancer, the island’s north experiences a subtropical climate after which the climate becomes more tropical further south. Its mountainous regions, which are temperate zones, experience snowfall in the middle of winter. The whole island experiences hot, rainy summers. Though a rainy season starts around May, a typhoon season lasting from July to October brings strong winds and heavy rains, contributing to the average 2,590 mm of precipitation every year. Mountains and foothills make up 70% of Taiwan proper’s area. The island has one of the highest densities of mountains in the world, with 268 peaks over 3,000m; the highest being Yu Shan at 3,952 m. Variations in climate created by differing elevations produce opportunities for a number of dynamic ecosystems to exist.

This is a list of the bat species recorded in Taiwan. The bats of Taiwan include a total of 38 species, of which 11 are endemic, and 6 subendemic. Of these, 2 species are globally threatened. This taxonomic chceklist was edited from Illustrated field keys to the bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) of Taiwan.

List of the 38 bat species in Taiwan with their endemism

Family	Species	Endemism	IUCN status	Status in Taiwan
Pteropodidae	Cynopterus sphinx		LC	n/a
	Pteropus dasymallus formosus	ESS	VU	NCR
	Rousettus leschenaultii		LC	n/a
Hipposideridae	Coelops frithii formosanus	ESS	NT	NVU
Hipposideridae	Hipposideros armiger terasensis	ESS	LC	LC
Rhinolophidae	Rhinolophus formosae	ES	LC	LC
Rhinolophidae	Rhinolophus monoceros	ES	n/a	LC
Miniopteridae	Miniopterus fuliginosus		n/a	LC
Molossidae	Tadarida insignis		DD	LC
Vespertilionidae	Kerivoula furva		n/a	LC
	Harpiocephalus harpia		LC	DD
	Harpiola isodon		LC	LC
	Murina bicolor	ES	LC	LC
	Murina gracilis	ES	LC	LC
	Murina puta	ES	LC	LC
	Murina recondita	ES	LC	LC
	Myotis fimbriatus taiwanensis	ESS	LC	LC
	Myotis formosus flavus	ESS	NT	NVU
	Myotis frater		LC	LC
	Myotis laniger		LC	LC
	Myotis pilosus		VU	n/a
	Myotis rufoniger		LC	LC
	Myotis secundus	ES	LC	LC
	Myotis soror	ES	DD	DD
	Submyotodon latirostris	ES	LC	LC
	Thainycteris torquatus	ES	LC	LC
	Barbastella darjelingensis		LC	LC
	Eptesicus pachyomus horikawai	ESS	LC	LC
	Hypsugo pulveratus		LC	DD
	Nyctalus plancyi		LC	LC
	Pipistrellus abramus		LC	LC
	Pipistrellus taiwanensis		n/a	LC
	Pipistrellus montanus		n/a	LC
	Pipistrellus sp.		n/a	n/a
	Plecotus taivanus	ES	NT	LC
	Scotophilus kuhlii		LC	LC
	Scotophilus heathii		LC	n/a
	Vespertilio sinensis		LC	NEN