New thick-thumbed bat species discovered in bamboo forest in Meghalaya

A team of scientists has discovered a new species of thick-thumbed bat from a bamboo forest in Meghalaya and named it after the state, which is celebrating its 50 years of statehood.

A team of scientists from Zoological Survey of India, Shillong and two from Hungary and Geneva (Switzerland) have published the discovery in the latest issue of the prominent taxonomic journal Zootaxa.

Dr Uttam Saikia, a scientist from the Zoological Survey of India along with Dr Gabor Csorba of the Hungarian Natural History Museum and Dr Manuel Ruedi of the Natural History Museum of Geneva have reported the new species from a bamboo forest near Lailad in Ri-Bhoi district in Meghalaya, which is adjoining to Nongkhyllem Wildlife Sanctuary.

The researchers noted that this bat has typical fleshy pads on the thumb and soles of feet which aid them to crawl over smooth surfaces of bamboo internodes. "Previously, four species of thick-thumbed bats were known globally and all are distributed in the Southeast Asian region. The present discovery is the first report of a thick-thumbed bat from India," said a statement issued by the research team.

Saikia captured two specimens of the species from the area in the summer of 2020. For describing this novel species, the researchers compared the Meghalaya specimens to a large series of specimens of all other species under this genus held in natural history museums across the world and came to the conclusion that the Meghalaya specimens indeed represent a distinct species.

The scientists have named the new species as Glischropus meghalayanus in honour of the state from where it was discovered and also in celebration of the 50th anniversary of statehood of Meghalaya in 2022, it said.

With this new discovery, the total number of bat species known from India stands at 131 species with Meghalaya harbouring the highest bat diversity with 67 species.

Since the locality from where the new bat has been discovered is adjacent to Nongkhyllem Wildlife Sanctuary having similar vegetation, the researchers speculated that this bat might be available inside the sanctuary area as well.