it is named after joe walston, an expert on bats of vietnam and cambodia. walston works at the bronx zoo in the wildlife conservation society as the director of the asia program. the bat's dorsal fur is a medium brown and its ventral fur is white. this bat is small enough to fit in a person's hand, weighing . as of 2013, there are still few details known about them and their ecology and it is suspected there are many more species of bats yet to be discovered in the region.