Abstract
The Pilbara leaf-nosed bat (Rhinonicteris aurantia) is a small obligate cave-roosting, insectivorous bat. Its range is the Pilbara bioregion in Western Australia and the adjoining fringes of two other bioregions to the east and south. Its only known roost sites are in deep caves or historical underground mines that offer a very specific microclimate. There are few suitable roosts and virtually all of those known are in mineral-bearing strata subject to current or possible future mining activities. As a result this species is listed under Commonwealth and State legislation as a vulnerable mammal. Until recently, little was known about its dispersal around the Pilbara. One of 18 bats fitted with passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags in September 2017 at the Ratty Spring Roost near Paraburdoo, where a recording system is operating, disappeared soon after tagging. Following the installation of a similar recording system at the Koodaideri Roost near Rio Tinto’s Koodaideri project, 170 km to the north-east, that bat was found to be present at the roost. This is the first record of this species changing roosts over such distances.
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