Common pipistrelle
Pipistrellus pipistrellus (Schreber, 1774)
The common pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) is a bat in the family Vespertilionidae, order Chiroptera, within the class Mammalia. It falls in the tiny size class, with an adult body mass of 5.7 g and a wingspan of 22.3 cm.
Quick facts about the common pipistrelle
This nocturnal, aerial invertivore lives in forest and shrubland habitats. It has a gestation period of 42 days, one litter per year with 1.3 young per litter, and a lifespan of up to 16.7 years; the IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
- Weight
- 5 g – 5.69 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 22.3 cmsrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 16 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Invertivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 16.7 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- forest, shrublandsrc for Habitat
- Gestation
- 42 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1.29src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 15 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Aerialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the common pipistrelle?
Photos of the common pipistrelle
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
1 more photo exists under a licence we cannot display: view at source.
Where does the common pipistrelle live?
Not recorded
What is the common pipistrelle?
The common pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) is a small pipistrelle microbat whose very large range extends across most of Europe, North Africa, and central South Asia, and may extend into Korea. It is one of the most common bat species in the British Isles. In Europe, the northernmost confirmed records are from southern Finland near 60°N.
In 1999, the common pipistrelle was split into two species on the basis of different-frequency echolocation calls. The common pipistrelle uses a call of 45 kHz, while the soprano pipistrelle echolocates at 55 kHz. Since the two species were distinguished, a number of other differences in appearance, habitat, and food also have been discovered.
From the Wikipedia article “Common pipistrelle” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Common_pipistrelle&oldid=1376793071), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
What does the common pipistrelle sound like?
Is the common pipistrelle endangered?
The common pipistrelle is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the common pipistrelle classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderChiroptera
- familyVespertilionidae
- genusPipistrellus
- SpeciesPipistrellus pipistrellus (Schreber, 1774)
Synonyms Pipistrellus brachyotos, Pipistrellus flavescens, Pipistrellus genei, Pipistrellus limbatus, Pipistrellus melanopterus, Pipistrellus murinus, Pipistrellus nigricans, Vespertilio pipistrelle, Vesperugo pipistrellus
Other names and names in other languages (50)
- 45 khz pipistrelleEnglish
- Bandit pipistrelleEnglish
- Pipistrelle, common pipistrelleEnglish
- Small house batEnglish
- بيبستريلس شائعArabic
- Pipistrel·laCatalan
- pipistrel·la comunaCatalan
- netopýr hvízdavýCzech
- Ystlum lleiafWelsh
- PipistrelflagermusDanish
- ZwergfledermausGerman
- ΝανονυχτερίδαGreek
- Murciélago comúnSpanish
- Murciélago EnanoSpanish
- Murciélago enano o comúnSpanish
- kääbus-nahkhiirEstonian
- vaivaislepakkoFinnish
- Pipistrelle communeFrench
- Lytse flearmûsWestern Frisian
- Ialtóg fheascrachIrish
- Morcego comúnGalician
- עטלפון אירופיHebrew
- Patuljasti šišmišCroatian
- közönséges törpedenevérHungarian
- Pipistrello nanoItalian
- ヨーロッパイエコウモリJapanese
- ヨーロッパアブラコウモリJapanese
- Ергежейлі жарқанатKazakh
- 유럽집박쥐Korean
- Kleng FlëntermausLuxembourgish
- Gemeng FlëntermausLuxembourgish
- Šikšniukas nykštukasLithuanian
- pundursikspārnisLatvian
- dvergflaggermusNorwegian Bokmål
- tusseflaggermusNorwegian Bokmål
- DwergvleermuisDutch
- gewone dwergvleermuisDutch
- Karlik malutkiPolish
- Morcego-anãoPortuguese
- Liliac piticRomanian
- Нетопырь-карликRussian
- Večernica hvízdaváSlovak
- mali netopirSlovenian
- pipistrellSwedish
- sydpipistrellSwedish
- vanlig pipistrellSwedish
- Cüce YarasaTurkish
- Нетопир малийUkrainian
- Нетопир карликUkrainian
- 伏翼Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the common pipistrelle
Other species in the same genus Pipistrellus.
Nathusius's pipistrelle
Pipistrellus nathusii
Kuhl's pipistrelle
Pipistrellus kuhlii
Soprano pipistrelle
Pipistrellus pygmaeus
Indian pipistrelle
Pipistrellus coromandra
Least pipistrelle
Pipistrellus tenuis
Japanese pipistrelle
Pipistrellus abramus
CompareCommon pipistrelle vs Nathusius's pipistrelleCommon pipistrelle vs Kuhl's pipistrelleCommon pipistrelle vs Soprano pipistrelleCommon pipistrelle vs Indian pipistrelle
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the common pipistrelle?
The common pipistrelle is a bat, a mammal in the family Vespertilionidae and the order Chiroptera.
How big is the common pipistrelle?
It is a tiny bat with an adult body mass of 5.7 g and a wingspan of 22.3 cm. The lowest body mass reported by our sources is 5 g.
What does the common pipistrelle eat?
It is an invertivore, placed at the carnivore trophic level.
What habitats does the common pipistrelle live in?
It lives in forest and shrubland. It is nocturnal and forages in the air.
Is the common pipistrelle endangered?
No. The IUCN lists it as Least Concern (LC) in its global assessment, which is not a threatened category.
How long does the common pipistrelle live?
Its lifespan is 16 years, with a highest reported value of 16.7 years.
How many young does the common pipistrelle have?
It has 1.3 young per litter and one litter per year, after a gestation period of 42 days. It reaches sexual maturity at 1.2 years.
Who named the common pipistrelle?
Its scientific name, Pipistrellus pipistrellus, is credited to (Schreber, 1774).
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Common pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-pipistrelle
“Common pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-pipistrelle.
@misc{common_pipistrelle_2026,
title = {Common pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-pipistrelle},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}