Rufous Horseshoe Bat

The rufous horseshoe bat is a horseshoe bat, named for the horseshoe-shaped part of its large, complex nose leaf. It weighs 12.2 to 14.8 g, with a head-body length of 42 to 66 mm and a forearm of 44.4 to 52.3 mm. The coat changes with the season: dull brown to greyish brown in summer, and bright orange-rufous in winter. Two subspecies are recognised, and the Sri Lankan one is Rhinolophus rouxii rubidus (Zenodo species treatment, general account).

It lives in moist evergreen and lowland forest from sea level to 1,370 m and roosts in caves, tunnels, tree hollows and wells, in colonies of several hundred. It forages soon after sunset, hawking insects in the air for 30 to 60 minutes and then hunting from perches through the night. Its diet is mainly grasshoppers, moths, beetles, termites, mosquitoes and other flies. Peak echolocation frequency is 73 to 79 kHz in Sri Lanka. In India, mating is in late December, gestation lasts 150 to 160 days and births are in late May or early June. Nationally Least Concern (Sri Lanka National Red List 2012).