Madeira Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus maderensis)

Small bat, with a forearm length of 22.9-34.7 mm. Fur is brown to reddish brown and the bare skin is rather dark. Some specimens may have the pale wing markings of their closest relative, Kuhl’s pipistrelle (Pipistrellus kuhlii). The Madeira pipistrelle is endemic to Macaronesia, in particular to the Azores, Madeira and the Canaries. It occupies many different habitats from sea level to 2,150 m altitude, including xeric soils, thermophile vegetation, evergreen, fayal-brezal firetree and heath and pine forests, high montane scrub and ravines. It also frequents low- and mid-altitude farmland, where it can be common, as well as towns and villages, taking advantage of public lighting to hunt. By day, it shelters in rocky crevices, tree hollows, caves, bird-boxes, houses and other buildings, and sometimes behind the tin sheets placed around palm trees to protect them from rats. It feeds exclusively on insects (dipterans, small lepidoptera, etc.). Females suckle their young in June and July, and from September-October males experience maximum testicular growth. This is a sedentary species and its known movements take place within a few kilometres. Moreover, it is active throughout the year in low- to mid-altitude areas. Generally speaking, this bat is not endangered and populations are sizable on all the islands it inhabits, including Santa Maria (the Azores), where it was discovered in 1997. However, it is negatively affected by chemicals used in farming, roost disturbance or loss (particularly in derelict houses) and possible predation by rats (Rattus spp.), hence its classification as Vulnerable.