Group of scientists discovers a new bat species in India

Guwahati, June 6: In a significant boost to India’s effort to document and conserve its biodiversity, scientists have discovered a new species of bat from the Himalayan region of India and Pakistan.

This species was discovered by the scientists while undertaking an extensive reassessment of the bat fauna of the Himalayan region of India which despite being a biodiversity hotspot is not adequately sampled.

A group of scientists namely Uttam Saikia from Zoological Survey of India, Shillong; Rohit Chakravarty of Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysuru; Gabor Csorba from Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest; M.A. Laskar from St Anthony’s College, Shillong and Manuel Ruedi of Natural History Museum of Geneva; collaborated for this landmark study, according to a Press note emailed by Uttam Saikia.

Published in the latest edition of zoological mega journal Zootaxa, this new bat named Himalayan long-tailed Myotis (Myotis himalaicus) was described based on specimens collected from higher elevation areas of Uttarakhand and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.

According to the study, the new species belongs to a group of morphologically similar species called Myotis frater complex which have a wide distribution from eastern China, Taiwan, central and south-eastern Siberia, Korea, Japan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Apparently a native of the southern slopes of the Himalayas, the newly described bat species was thus far encountered in the Deodar, Pine or Cedar forest and appears uncommon.

The study also resulted in a new addition to the bat fauna of India, the globally Data Deficient East Asian free-tailed bat (Tadarida insignis) which till now was mistaken for the European free-tailed bat (Tadarida teniotis) in all existing literature in India. Based on detailed study of the specimen collected from Uttarakhand and genetic analysis, the researchers concluded that this species is distributed in the Himalayan region of India besides China, Taiwan, Japan and the Korean Peninsula and constituting a very significant eastward extension of range by about 2500 km, the study noted.

Another significant highlight of the study is the validation of species status of another poorly understood species named Babu’s Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus babu). This species was discovered over a century ago from Muree hills in Pakistan and apparently common in the western and central Himalayas.

Due to morphological similarities, subsequent researchers considered it as a synonym of another species called Javan Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus javanicus), a resident of primarily Southeast Asia. But the new study conclusively proves that Babu’s Pipistrelle is a species distinct from Javan Pipistrelle and is distributed in Pakistan, Western Himalayas of India and Nepal.

The study also provided first specimen based confirmation of the presence a few other bat species in India namely Savi’s Pipistrelle (Hypsugo savii) and Japanese greater horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus nippon) which are thus far been mentioned from India based on either doubtful specimens or on zoogeographic ground. Dr. Dhriti Banerjee, Director of Zoological Survey of India noted that the study is expected to have significant implications in documentation and conservation of small mammalian fauna of India and also give a boost to further studies in the Indian Himalayas.

With this revisionary study, the confirmed tally of Indian bat species currently stands at 135 species which is likely to go up as studies continue, she added.

Picture credits: Rohit Chakravarty

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