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Scientists Uncover Himalayan Long-Tailed Myotis, Adding to India’s Bat Fauna

Published in Zootaxa, the research spotlights uncharted Himalayan bat diversity through confirmation of Babu’s pipistrelle alongside new records of the East Asian free-tailed bat in India.

Scientists caught a “long”-tailed creature in a trap in a forest of India and discovered an “elusive” new species, a study said.
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Overview

  • Between 2017 and 2021, teams surveying Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand collected bat specimens that revealed the new Himalayan long-tailed myotis in high-elevation pine and cedar forests.
  • Specimens from Uttarakhand’s Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary matched unidentified samples from Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, confirming the species’ cross-border distribution.
  • Detailed morphological study and genetic data placed Myotis himalaicus within the broader Myotis frater complex, marking it as distinct from other regional mouse-eared bats.
  • The researchers also validated Babu’s pipistrelle as a distinct species and recognized the East Asian free-tailed bat in India after correcting earlier taxonomic misidentifications.
  • The findings raise India’s confirmed bat species tally to 135 and bolster efforts to document and conserve small mammalian fauna in the Himalayan biodiversity hotspot.