Eastern Falsistrelle

Pastel on Canson paper (Sold)

63 cm W x 48 cm H
Very little is known about Eastern False Pipistrelles or Falsistrelles (Falsistrellus tasmaniensis). They feed on insects, including moths, beetles and ants. Like all microbats they are a wonderfully natural method of pest control as they devour lawn grub moths, weevils, caterpillars, beetles, midges, flying termites, mosquitoes and other insects. Microbats can eat as much as 40% of their own body weight in a single night or several hundred insects per hour. Sadly they are under threat from intensive forestry activity in their habitat, cleared for agriculture and housing, as they roost in hollows in old trees in higher rainfall forests. They do however occasionally roost in disused buildings.