First Record of the Black-Bearded Tomb Bat Taphozous melanopogon Temminck, 1841 (Chiroptera: Emballonuridae) from Japan

Abstract

Abstract. A bat was rescued from Okinawajima Island, Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan in November 2021. Observing the external characteristics, we identified it as the black-bearded tomb bat, Taphozous melanopogon Temminck, 1841, which is mainly distributed in tropical Asia. To our knowledge, this is the first record of this species in Japan. However, we infer that it was accidentally only visiting and not established on Okinawajima Island.