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Records of the Australian Museum (2014) Vol. 66 
Figure 5. Pharotis imogene from near Oio Village, live animal showing erect ears (scale, ear length from base of tragus = 24.0 mm, photo 
Catherine Hughes). 
Discussion 
The capture of the New Guinea Big-eared Bat in the Abau 
district extends the known distribution of the species in the 
Central Province by some 120 km to the east. It also confirms 
the prediction by Bonaccorso (1998) that the species remains 
extant. The current IUCN Red List threat status is Critically 
Endangered (possibly extinct), under criteria Bla,b (i, ii, 
iii) and D, i.e. “likely to have a very small population size, 
and small range size that is subject to a continued decline 
in extent of occurrence, area of occupancy, and the extent 
and quality of habitat” (Bonaccorso et al. , 2008). The threat 
status will now need to be reassessed, but the present record 
might not necessarily alter the status of Critically Endangered 
under criterion B of the Red List criteria. 
The Oio Pharotis was captured as part of an ultrasonic 
census of the local bat community but there were no call 
sequences positively identifiable as Pharotis , however, the 
species might have cryptic calls that were not distinguished 
from Nyctophilus. The similarities in external morphology 
(relatively long-ears) and cranial morphology (large 
auditory bulla) between Pharotis and Nyctophilus have led 
to speculation that Pharotis might also be a low intensity, 
substrate-gleaning echolocator (Bonaccorso, 1998). Bat 
species with this foraging strategy are known to have a higher 
extinction risk (Jones et al. , 2003). 
Nothing is known about the ecology of the New Guinea 
Big-eared Bat. Even broad habitat requirements of this 
species remain unknown but are suspected to be either 
lowland sclerophyll woodland or woodland with rainforest 
patches (Bonaccorso et al. , 2008). The Oio individual was 
trapped in rainforest less than 100 m from the boundary 
between extensive rainforest to the north and a large expanse 
of grassland (once a coconut plantation) and was within 12 km 
of the coast and extensive open country. Many bat species are 
thought to require spatially dispersed roosting and foraging 
habitats (Law & Dickman, 1998). However, given that the 
capture of one animal at a rainforest boundary could be 
fortuitous, detailed surveys are needed to critically determine 
whether the species requires the proximity of both rainforest 
and more open habitats. Open sclerophyll savannah or 
woodland with or without rainforest patches, thought to be 
