The ranks of Murina are swelling! Since Nancy Simmon’s review of 2005, 8 additional Southeast Asian species have been described, and now another three species join the ranks. Gabor Csorba, Nguyen Truong Son, Ith Saveng and Neil Furey examined specimens from Cambodia and Vietnam, and began with a timely redescription of Murina tubinaris before describing M. cineracea, M. beelzebub and M. walstoni. As the name suggests, M. cineracea is any ashy-grey colour, and was formerly included in M. tubinaris. The type specimen comes from Cambodia but it is known from scattered localities throughout continental Southeast Asia and into the Indian Subcontinent. M. beelzebub is a dark and feisty species collected in predominantly forested reserves in Vietnam, and M. walstoni a small bat with brown dorsal fur and a pure white ventral surface from Cambodia and Vietnam.
Gabor Csorba, Ngyuen Truong Son, Ith Saveng, and Neil M. Furey. 2011. Revealing cryptic bat diversity: three new Murina and redescription of M. tubinaris from Southeast Asia. Journal of Mammalogy, 92: 891-904.
For a copy of the article, please contact the corresponding author Gabor Csorba csorba(at)nhmus.hu
