Western sheath-tailed bat

The western sheath-tailed bat (Paremballonura tiavato) is a small bat of the family Emballonuridae that is endemic to the island and country of Madagascar. It was described as a new species in 2006, from a holotype collected in January 2001 in Ankarana Reserve, and was first placed in the genus Emballonura. In 2012 a new genus, Paremballonura, was described and this species and Peters's sheath-tailed bat were transferred into it. Its species name tiavato is Malagasy for likes rocks, chosen because the bat was likely to be found where rocky outcrops are exposed. It is a small bat with a forearm length of 35 to 42 mm, long somewhat silky grayish brown fur on the back and paler fur on the belly. So far it has been documented on the karstic western side of the island, from 10 to 330 m above sea level, and as of 2017 the IUCN evaluates it as Least Concern.