Small mouse-tailed bat

The small mouse-tailed bat, Rhinopoma muscatellum, is a species of bat in the family Rhinopomatidae. It is known from Afghanistan, Iran, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, and possibly Ethiopia, and in Iran and Afghanistan its range runs from the Sistan Basin well into the Helmand River basin of the south-west. A small mouse-tailed bat has a wingspan of about 17 to 25 centimetres and a body about 6 to 8 centimetres long, with a tail as long as the body, and it catches flying insects and eats them on the wing. The species was shown to be distinct from the lesser mouse-tailed bat on the basis of morphological features that do not overlap: its skull is nearly unridged, the teeth are small, and there are large cavities filled with fluid. A modelling study noted that distance to roads and railways, annual mean temperature, elevation and distance to the ridge were significant for the species.