NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Rustic Pipistrelle
Pipistrellus rusticus (Tomes, 1861)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Pipistrellus rusticus
Unknown authorUnknown author · CC BY 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The rusty pipistrelle (Pipistrellus rusticus) is a species of vesper bat. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitats are dry and moist savanna. It is of note as perhaps Africa's smallest bat, at average weight of 3.5 g (0.12 oz).
Wikipedia contributors, Rusty pipistrelle; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T06:57:15.819586+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Pipistrellus rusticus (Tomes, 1861)
- Name authority
- (Tomes, 1861)
- Common name
- Rustic Pipistrelle
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Chiroptera
- Family
- Vespertilionidae
- Genus
- Pipistrellus
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
- subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
- infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
- orderChiroptera Blumenbach, 1779
- suborderYangochiroptera Koopman, 1984
- superfamilyVespertilionoidea Gray, 1821
- familyVespertilionidae Gray, 1821
- subfamilyVespertilioninae Gray, 1821
- tribePipistrellini Tate, 1942
- genusPipistrellus Kaup, 1829
- speciesPipistrellus rusticus (Tomes, 1861)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Pipistrellus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Adams's PipistrellePipistrellus adamsi Kitchener, Caputi & Jones, 1986 | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Endo's PipistrellePipistrellus endoi Imaizumi, 1959 | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Java PipistrellePipistrellus javanicus (Gray, 1838) | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Madeira PipistrellePipistrellus maderensis (Dobson, 1878) | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Minahassa PipistrellePipistrellus minahassae (A. Meyer, 1899) | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Dwarf Pipistrelle BatPipistrellus nanulus Thomas, 1904 | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Lesser Papuan PipistrellePipistrellus papuanus (Peters & Doria, 1881) | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Soprano PipistrellePipistrellus pygmaeus (Leach, 1825) | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Racey's PipistrellePipistrellus raceyi Bates, Ratrimomanarivo, Harrison & Goodman, 2006 | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Common PipistrellePipistrellus pipistrellus (Schreber, 1774) | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Mount Popa PipistrellePipistrellus paterculus Thomas, 1915 | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Dhofar PipistrellePipistrellus dhofarensis Benda, Reiter, Uhrin & Varadínová, 2016 | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Scotophilus rusticus Tomes, 1861 Tomes, 1861 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=632126 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:4J6LQ. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.