SEABCRU » new species

Scientists find a new species of horseshoe bat from Southeast Asia by studying an old museum specimen

Pipat Soisook — Mon, 20 Jul 2015 00:50:31 +0000

Rhinolophus francisi (photo Pipat Soisook)

A team of international network of researchers describes a new species of woolly horseshoe bat from Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand). The new species is described from specimens in museums world-wide including a 32 years old spirit specimen.

The study (led by SEABCRU member Pipat Soisook) is one of many output of an international collaborative network of researchers in different 11 institutions based in six different countries. The paper is published in the latest issue of Acta Chiropterologica.

The first specimen of the new species was collected at around 1600 m on Gunung Trus Madi in Sabah, Malaysia, by Charles M. Francis in 1983. This specimen is kept in the Natural History Museum, London after since and was being regarded as a ‘melanistic’ Rhinolophus trifoliatus until this study. Together with additional specimens from Kalimantan, Indonesia and from Thailand, researchers, by using morphological, acoustic and genetic data, reveal that they are a new species to science. The new species then is named ‘Rhinolophus francisi’ to honor C. M. Francis for his great contribution in Southeast Asian bat taxonomy.

The new species is currently known only from Sabah, Kalimantan in Borneo and Ratchaburi Province, W. Thailand. A single specimen from Thailand is described as a different subspecies, namely ‘Rhinolophus francisi thailandicus’ or Thailand’s Wooly Horseshoe Bat’. Anyway the authors mentioned that additional specimens from Thailand may prove that this Thai subspecies is a distinct species, and future surveys in forest habitats of mainland Southeast Asia may reveal that it is actually widespread in the region.

Soisook, P., Struebig, M. J., Noerfahmy, S., Bernard, H., Maryanto, I., Chen, S. F., Rossiter, S. J., Kuo, H. C., Deshpande, K., Bates, P. J. J., Sykes, D. and Miguez, R. P. (2015) DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF THE RHINOLOPHUS TRIFOLIATUS-GROUP (CHIROPTERA: RHINOLOPHIDAE) FROM SOUTHEAST ASIA. Acta Chiropterologica, 17(1): 21–36

Fangtastic — a new Hypsugo from Lao PDR and Vietnam

Gabor Csorba — Fri, 28 Nov 2014 01:29:08 +0000

A long awaited description has finally been done by T. Görföl and his colleagues – a new species of Hypsugo was already mentioned as Hypsugo sp.A in their SE Asian bat barcoding study by Francis et al. in 2010. The species can be readily distinguished from all other SE Asian congeners by its blackish pelage and conspicuously long canines; hence its name H. dolichodon, Long-toothed Pipistrelle. It resembles to H. pulveratus, a widely distributed species in Indochina and although H. dolichodon is presently known from Vietnam and Lao PDR only, it is worth to check previously collected materials as its distribution area may not be limited to the known territory!

Hypsugo dolichodon displaying its rather impressive canines

Skulls of H.dolichodon and H. pulveratus

TAMÁS GÖRFÖL, GÁBOR CSORBA, JUDITH L. EGER, NGUYEN TRUONG SON & CHARLES M. FRANCIS (2014). Canines make the difference: a new species of Hypsugo (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) from Laos and Vietnam. Zootaxa 3887 (2): 239–250

The article can be downloaded here

A new finding on the taxonomy of bamboo bats

Vu Din Thong — Wed, 05 Mar 2014 21:58:38 +0000

Tylonycteris pachypus fulvus (from Huang et al. 2014)

The bat world currently includes three bamboo bat species: the Greater Bamboo Bat (Tylonycteris robustula), the Lesser Bamboo Bat (Tylonycteris pachypus), and the Pygmy Bamboo Bat (Tylonycteris pygmaeus). Of these, the Greater and Lesser Bamboo Bats are distributed widely in South and Southeast Asia while the Pygmy Bamboo Bat is only known from its type locality in southern China. Within Southeast Asia, Tylonycteris pachypus has been recorded from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam with five recognized subspecies: T. p. aurex, T. p. bhakti, T. p. fulvidus, T. p. meyeri, and T. p. pachypus. Recently, a bat specialist team conducted a study on karyotypes and Mitochondrial DNA of populations belonging to T. p. fulvidus from China and Thailand with reference to previously published data. The study results indicated that the Tylonycteris pachypus complex contains a cryptic species. Evidentially, karyotypes of T. p. fulvidus from China and Thailand (2n = 30) are distinct from those of T. p. pachypus (2n = 46) and T. robustula (2n = 32) from Malaysia. This exciting finding promotes further studies on karyotypes and genetics of all five recognized subspecies of Tylonycteris pachypus and Tylonycteris pygmaeus through their distributional ranges for extensive comparison and taxonomic confirmation.

Original citation: Huang, C., W. Yu, Z. Xu, Y. Qiu, M. Chen, B. Qiu, M. Motokawa, M. Harada, Y. Li, and Y. Wu. 2014. A cryptic species of the Tylonycteris pachypus complex (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) and its population genetic structure in Southern China and nearby region. International Journal of Biological Sciences, 10(2): 200-211.

A new Myotis from Vietnam

Tamas Gorfol — Fri, 14 Feb 2014 17:49:23 +0000

A new Myotis species is described in the latest issue of Acta Chiropterologica on the basis of morphology and barcoding sequences from Vietnam and Lao PDR. It also occurs in China, according to barcoding results from earlier literature. The species resembles Myotis montivagus and Myotis sicarius and as there are published records on specimens only tentatively identified as M. montivagus, the number of localities may grow further.

The new species, Myotis indochinensis, is characterised by a relatively long forearm, moderately long ears, flat cranial profile and wide anteorbital bridge. It shows the characteristics of both ‘Myotis’ and ‘Selysius’ ecomorphs, hence our morphological investigations support the recent phylogenetic analyses showing that former ‘subgenera’ of Myotis are in fact paraphyletic groups, even within Southeast Asia. Nevertheless, many of the external and craniodental features formerly used to separate these subgenera provide a practical means of grouping species. An identification key to the middle and large-sized Indomalayan Myotis with small feet is also provided in the article to help the work with this group of species.

Original citation: Son, N.T., T. Görföl, C.M. Francis, M. Motokawa, M., P. Estók, H. Endo, V. Dinh Thong, N.X. Dang, T. Oshida, and G. Csorba. 2013. Description of a new species of Myotis (Vespertilionidae) from Vietnam. Acta Chiropterologica, 15(2): 473-483.

Bravo! More Murina Species from Southeast Asia

Joe Chun-Chia Huang — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 17:58:09 +0000

A back-to-back discovery of new Murina species is reported from Thailand by the end of 2013. Guillen’s Tube-nosed bat, M. guilleni, is the twentieth new species of the genus described in the past eight years. This small orange-brown bat is named after Antonio Guillen-Servent, who first collected the species. Murina guilleni is very similar to M. cyclotis and M. fionae externally but can be distinguished by its general smaller size, bacula shape, and differentiation in DNA barcodes. The authors also suggest M. peninsularis as a valid full species, which was formerly recognized as a subspecies of M. cyclotis from South Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo, and Sumatra. This exciting finding is published by five SEABCRU committee and their collaborators from several Southeast Asia countries. The research highlights the significance of SEABCRU’s taxonomic network in facilitating our understanding of the cryptic diversity of Southeast Asia bats.

Original citation: Soisook, P., S. Karapan, C. Satassok, V. Dinh Thong, F. A. A. Khan, I. Maryanto, G. Csorba, N. Furey, B. Aul, and P. J. J. Bates. 2013. A review of the Murina cyclotis complex (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) with descriptions of a new species and subspecies. Acta Chiropterologica, 15(2): 271-292.

Note from Tigga: There was some great coverage of the M. balaensis discove ry in Thailand – here and in the Bangkok Post last week. Excellent stuff!

A new Tube-nosed bat from Thailand

Joe Chun-Chia Huang — Tue, 17 Dec 2013 23:19:16 +0000

Murina balaensis

A new Murina species, Murina balaensis, is recently described from Thailand by two SEABCRU committee members, Pipat Soisook and Paul Bates, and their colleagues. M. balaensis is a small bat of the suilla species group. It is most similar to M. eleryi from Vietnam and Lao PDR., but can be distinguished by several morphological traits and an 8% difference in the barcode COI. M. balaensis is the 19th species of the genus new to science in the last eight years. The species name balaensis refers to the locality of type specimen, Bala forest in Thailand. This exciting finding is published in the latest issue of Zootaxa.

Citation: Pipat Soisook, Sunate Karapan, Chutamas Satasook, and Paul J. J. Bates. 2013. A new species of Murina (Mammalia: Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) from peninsular Thailand. Zootaxa 3746 (4): 567–579.

New species record for Lao PDR

Joe Chun-Chia Huang — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 22:52:43 +0000

More species from Lao PDR! A male Hill Fruit bat (Sphaerias blanfordi) was found by a research team of scientists from National University of Laos, Prince of Songkla University, and Harrison Institute from northern Lao PD. The new country record was reported by Bounsavane Douangboubpha and his colleagues, including Dr. Sara Bumrungsri and Dr. Paul Bates, two steering committee members of SEABCRU, and the result was published in the 2012 August issue of Tropical Natural History. This finding is not only the 95th bat species to the country but also fills the gap of its distribution among China, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Original citation: Douangboubpha, B., D. Sanamxay, V. Xayaphet, S. Bumrungsri, and P. J. J. Bates. 2012. First record of Sphaerias blanfordi (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae) from Lao PDR. Tropical Natural History, 12(1): 117-122.

Free article can be accessed here.

Unravelling the Myotis muricola muddle

Tigga Kingston — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 22:36:34 +0000

Congratulations to Sigit Wiantoro, Ibnu Maryanto and Mohd Tajuddin b Abdullah on their recent publication in Pertanika Journal of Tropical Agricultural Science (JTAS). Phylogenetic and phylogeographic analyses clearly indicate that populations of the widespread Myotis muricola either side of the Wallace Line are sufficiently divergent to be considered separate species, and are sister taxa to M. mystacinus.

The article can be downloaded here.

Wiantoro, S., Maryanto, I. and Abdullah M. T. (2012). Phylogeny and phylogeography of Myotis muricola (Gray, 1946) (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) from the West and East of Wallace’s Line inferred from partial mtDNA cytochrome b gene. Pertanika J. Trop. Agric. Sci 35 (2): 271-292.

A new fruit bat species from Sulawesi

Joe Chun-Chia Huang — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 22:34:20 +0000

A new Pteropodidae species was recently described from southwestern Sulawesi, Indonesia, by SEABCRU members, Dr. Ibnu Maryanto and Mr. Sigit Wiantoro, and their colleagues in Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense. Thoopterus suhaniahae, a median-sized fruit bat, was formerly regarded as a variation of T. nigrescens, but distinguished from its sympatric sibling by larger body size and several morphological traits, including the microstructures of penis in male bats. The species was named after Suhaniah, the wife of Mohamad Yani, which was a coauthor to this paper. “The finding of the new fruit bat species indicates again that the significance of Sulawesi as a hotspot of Pteropodidae in Southeast Asia.” said by Dr. Maryanto, who led this study of the new species.

Source: Ibnu Maryanto, Mohamad Yani, Siti Nuramaliati Prijono and Sigit Wiantoro . 2012. A new species of fruit bat (Megachiroptera: Pteropodidae: Thoopterus) from Sulawesi and adjacent islands, Indonesia. RECORDS OF THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM, Vol. 27: 68-84.

Source: Jakarta Globe online (In English)

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/indonesias-batman-discovers-new-bat-species-around-sulawesi/529437

Source: KOMPAS online (In Bahasa Indonesian)

http://biologi.lipi.go.id/bio_indonesia/mTemplate.php?h=3&id_berita=421

New Hipposideros from Vietnam

Faisal Ali Anwarali Khan — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 23:27:35 +0000

Congratulations to Vu Dinh and his co-authors on the description of new Hipposideros species from Vietnam. This new cryptic species from the armiger-species group, H. griffini is similar to H. armiger in its external characteristics but appears to have higher echolocation frequencies (76.6 to 79.2 kHz) compared to those of H. armiger (64.7–68.8 kHz). Hipposideros griffini also can be generally distinguished based on its smaller body size, craniodental, skull and teeth compared to H. armiger. Presently, H. griffini is only known from two disjunct localities in Vietnam: Cat Ba National Park, Cat Hai District, and Chu Mom Ray National Park, Kon Tum Province. The former is situated on an offshore island in northern Vietnam and the latter on the mainland Vietnam. Both, H. armiger and H. griffini can be found in sympatry in Vietnam. This further highlights the importance of incorporating multiple datasets such as morphology, echolocation and genetics in discovering cryptic bat species in Southeast Asia.

A new species of Hipposideros (Chiroptera: Hipposideridae) from Vietnam
Author(s): Vu Dinh Thong, Sebastien J. Puechmaille, Annette Denzinger, Christian Dietz, Gabor Csorba,
Paul J. J. Bates, Emma C. Teeling, and Hans-Ulrich Schnitzler
Journal of Mammalogy, 93(1):1-11. 2012.
Contact: thong@iebr.ac.vn for reprints