Known for more than 150 years, the Gould's wattled bat, Chalinolobus gouldii, was named after the 19th century naturalist and artist John Gould, who commented that ‘it frequents the outskirts of the brushes and the wooded borders of the great rivers’.
One of the most widespread species of small bats in Australia, as well as in Victoria, it is black above, often grading to brown below. Its has an average length of 115 mm and an average weight 14 g. Detailed studies have been carried out on colonies of Chalinolobus gouldii in Victoria and in Western Australia.