Small mouse-tailed bat

{{Short description|Species of bat}}

{{speciesbox

| name = Small mouse-tailed bat

| image = Small_mouse-tailed_bat.jpg

| status = LC

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |author=Srinivasulu, B. |author2=Srinivasulu, C. |date=2019 |title=Rhinopoma muscatellum |volume=2019 |page=e.T19602A21997131 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T19602A21997131.en |access-date=17 November 2021}}

| genus = Rhinopoma

| species = muscatellum

| authority = Thomas, 1903

| synonyms =

| range_map = Small Mouse-tailed Bat area.png

| range_map_caption = Small mouse-tailed bat range

}}

The small mouse-tailed bat (Rhinopoma muscatellum) is a species of bat in the Rhinopomatidae family. It is found in Afghanistan, Iran, Oman, and possibly Ethiopia, ranging from the Sistan Basin in Iran well into the Helmand River basin of south-western Afghanistan.{{cite journal |last1=DeBlase |first1=Anthony F. |last2=Schlitter |first2=Duane A. |last3=Neuhauser |first3=Hans N. |title=Taxonomic Status of Rhinopoma muscatellum Thomas (Chiroptera: Rhinopomatidae) from Southwest Asia |journal=Journal of Mammalogy |volume=54 |issue=4 |pages=831–841 |doi=10.2307/1379078 |date=1973|jstor=1379078 |pmid=4761366 }}

Small mouse tailed bats have a wingspan of {{cvt|17|–|25|cm}}, a body length of {{cvt|6|–|8|cm}} and a tail the same length as its body. Their diet consists of flying insects which they eat whilst flying.

This species was demonstrated as distinct from R. hardwickei based on mutually exclusive morphological features; the small mouse-tailed bat has a nearly unridged skull with small teeth and large cavities filled with fluid.

Distance to roads-railways, annual mean temperature, elevation, and distance to the ridge were significant for the small mouse-tailed bat.{{cite journal |last1=Schmitz |first1=Patrick |last2=Cibois |first2=Alice |last3=Landry |first3=Bernard |title=Molecular phylogeny and dating of an insular endemic moth radiation inferred from mitochondrial and nuclear genes: The genus Galagete (Lepidoptera: Autostichidae) of the Galapagos Islands |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |date=October 2007 |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=180–192 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2007.05.010 |pmid=17604184 |bibcode=2007MolPE..45..180S }}