Eudiscoderma thongareeae (photo Pipat Soisook)

A team of international scientists, led by two SEABCRU members, Dr. Pipat Soisook (Prince of Songkla University, Thailand) and Dr. Paul Bates (Harrison Institute, UK), discovered a new genus and species of false vampire. The new bat, namely Eudiscoderma thongareeae, is the sixth member of a small family Megadermatidae. It is named to reflect its disc-liked noseleaf and to honor Ms Siriporn Thongaree, the retired, former head of the Halabala Wildlife Research Station where the bat was found.

The species is very rare and only known from 3 specimens collected from a small area. The finding suggests how little we know about biodiversity, particularly in the forest areas of SE Asia.

The paper describing the new bat is published in the latest issue of Zootaxa. A copy of the full text pdf can be requested from the author, e-mail; pipat66@gmail.com

Pipat Soisook, Amorn Prajakjitr, Sunate Karapan, Charles M. Francis & Paul J. J. Bates (2015). A new genus and species of false vampire (Chiroptera: Megadermatidae) from peninsular Thailand. Zootaxa 3931 (4): 528-550.

Pteropus pelagicus. Credit: ZooKeys

Kris Helgen shared with us a new paper evaluating the taxonomic relationships between flying foxes of the Mortlock Islands, a chain of 100 atoll islands, in Micronesia. The authors, led by Don Buden, resurrect the name Pteropus pelagicus to replace P. phaeocephalus and unite P. pelagicus with P. insularis.  From field observations, they estimate that the population size in 2004 was only somewhere between 925-1200 bats, and that most individuals roost alone or in small groups. Interestingly, the authors suggest that the main threat to the species may be rising sea levels associated with climate change. Although its unclear whether entire atolls will be lost, salinity changes may reduce the availability of the bats’ major food source – breadfruit.   The paper includes a wealth of information on the recent history of P.  pelagicus on the Mortlock Islands, including a wonderful folktale explaining the limited consumption of bats on the islands. 

Buden DW, Helgen KM, Wiles GJ (2013) Taxonomy, distribution, and natural history of flying foxes (Chiroptera, Pteropodidae) in the Mortlock Islands and Chuuk State, Caroline Islands. ZooKeys 345: 97–135. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.345.5840

Buden_et_al_2013_Mortlock_Pacific_Pteropus