Malassezia vespertilionis
Malassezia vespertilionis is a species of yeast-like fungus that grows on the skin of bats. It was described as a new species in 2018. The holotype was obtained from a swab of wing skin of a hibernating northern long-eared bat collected in Wisconsin. The species epithet vespertilionis uses the Latin vespertilio to refer to the host.
Additional isolates were collected from various bat species in several locations in the United States – Alabama, California, Kentucky, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Other bat species that harbor the fungus are the California myotis, the fringed myotis, the Indiana bat, the little brown bat, the gray bat, and the silver-haired bat. The fungus appears to be fairly common on bats found in the United States, occurring in 28% of 264 individuals sampled.