Tuesday 21 May
In the News: First crane egg in the western UK in four centuries

What’s the World’s Favourite Species?
Find out here.| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | Mammalia |
| Order | Chiroptera |
| Family | Vespertilionidae |
| Genus | Murina (1) |
The gilded tube-nosed bat (Murina rozendaali) belongs to a genus of bats which are characterised by their conspicuous tube-like nostrils (5).
The gilded tube-nosed bat is distinguished from other members of the genus Murina by its longer skull length and the golden tips to the dark brown fur on the upperparts (3). The underparts of the gilded tube-nosed bat are white with a buffy or yellow tinge (4).
Like all Murina species, the gilded tube-nosed bat has rounded ears and a long and pointed tragus (4). The long tail of the gilded tube-nosed bat is almost completely enclosed within the tail membrane, which stretches between the ankles (4) (5) (6).
Gilded tube-nosed bats found in Peninsular Malaysia are significantly smaller than those from Sabah in Borneo (7).
Little is known of the biology and life history of the gilded tube-nosed bat. It is an insectivorous species (6), which flies low over the ground when hunting, skimming over the surface of crops and grass in search of prey (5).
Other bats in the genus Murina have been known to roost in the dead dry leaves of cardamom plants, in caves (5) and even in suspended birds’ nests (9). It is thought that the gilded tube-nosed bat is most likely to roost in foliage, and its roost sizes are likely to be small (1).
TopThe gilded tube-nosed bat occurs in Peninsular Malaysia and at a few locations in Sabah, Borneo (1). In 2006, it was also recorded for the first time in central Kalimantan in Borneo (8), and it may also potentially occur in Thailand (1).
TopThis rare, patchily-distributed bat inhabits lowland dipterocarp forest, where it has been observed flying low over streams (1) (2).
TopThe gilded tube-nosed bat is classified as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List (1).
TopThe lowland forest on which the gilded tube-nosed bat depends is rapidly declining due to logging and agriculture (1), particularly oil palm plantations (10). Fire has also become a significant threat to the forests of Malaysia and Indonesia in recent years. Tropical forests do not burn under natural conditions, but logging activities, which leave fuelwood on the forest floor and expose the understorey to drying, have created flammable conditions (10).
TopThere are no specific conservation measures known to be in place for the gilded tube-nosed bat, but it does occurs in Krau Wildlife Reserve in Malaysia (1), which may offer the resident population some protection.
A number of conservation organisations, such as WWF, are also working to conserve forests in the regions inhabited by this elusive bat (11).
TopLearn more about bat conservation:
Find out more about conservation in Malaysia and Borneo:
This information is awaiting authentication by a species expert, and will be updated as soon as possible. If you are able to help please contact:
arkive@wildscreen.org.uk
More »Related species
Image credit
© Matthew Struebig
Matthew Struebig
Research Associate
Queen Mary University of London,
School of Biological & Chemical Sciences,
Mile End Road,
London,
E1 4NS
United Kingdom
Link to this photo
Embed this ARKive thumbnail link by copying and pasting the code below.
Terms of Use - The displayed thumbnail may be used as a link from your website to ARKive's online content for private, scientific, conservation or educational purposes only. It may NOT be used within Apps.
Read more about
MyARKive
MyARKive offers the scrapbook feature to signed-up members, allowing you to organize your favourite ARKive images and videos and share them with friends.
Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials
Copyright in this website and materials contained on this website (Material) belongs to Wildscreen or its licensors.
Visitors to this website (End Users) are entitled to:
End Users shall not copy or otherwise extract, alter or manipulate Material other than as permitted in these Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials.
Additional use of flagged material
Green flagged material 
Certain Material on this website (Licence 4 Material) displays a green flag next to the Material and is available for not-for-profit conservation or educational use. This material may be used by End Users, who are individuals or organisations that are in our opinion not-for-profit, for their not-for-profit conservation or not-for-profit educational purposes. Low resolution, watermarked images may be copied from this website by such End Users for such purposes. If you require high resolution or non-watermarked versions of the Material, please contact Wildscreen with details of your proposed use.
Creative commons material
Certain Material on this website has been licensed to Wildscreen under a Creative Commons Licence. These images are clearly marked with the Creative Commons buttons and may be used by End Users only in the way allowed by the specific Creative Commons Licence under which they have been submitted. Please see http://creativecommons.org for details.
Any other use
Please contact the copyright owners directly (copyright and contact details are shown for each media item) to negotiate terms and conditions for any use of Material other than those expressly permitted above. Please note that many of the contributors to ARKive are commercial operators and may request a fee for such use.
Save as permitted above, no person or organisation is permitted to incorporate any copyright material from this website into any other work or publication in any format (this includes but is not limited to: websites, Apps, CDs, DVDs, intranets, extranets, signage, digital communications or on printed materials for external or other distribution). Use of the Material for promotional, administrative or for-profit purposes is not permitted.