Osmania University scientist, researcher son discover new bat species; name it after bat-biologist husband

There are only four species of Bent-winged Bats known in India. The discovery of Srini’s Bent-winged Bats now takes the number to five.

Bent-winged Bats are small-sized bats that live in large colonies of a few hundred individuals in caves. Characterised by their unique long wings, which are two and a half times their body’s length, Bent-winged Bats get their name from these long wings that tend to fold over themselves when they are resting.

During their research, Dr Bhargavi and Aditya collected specimens of bats from a large subterranean cave in the dense jungles of the Western Ghats in Makuta. Initially, they thought these were a cryptic species of bat, which they had tentatively identified as the Small Bent-winged Bat.

According to Dr Bhargavi, the Small Bent-winged Bat, Miniopterus pusillus, is reported from the Nicobar Islands, peninsular India, Nepal, and Northeast India.

“Our research on Andaman bats has revealed that the fauna on the islands is genetically different from those on mainland India. We doubted that the Makuta specimens and those reported from other parts of the Western Ghats may be cryptic species. We conducted morphological, cranial, echolocation, and genetic studies to determine the relationship between the Makuta specimens and others,” said Dr Bhargavi Srinivasulu, a UGC-Post Doctoral Fellow at the Department of Zoology, Osmania University.

Aditya, who is currently researching South Asian bats, said, “Two species of bent-winged bats, Miniopterus phillipsi and Miniopterus pusillus, are known from the Western Ghats. Our research provides evidence that the population of bent-winged bats assigned to the later species is a cryptic species, meaning they morphologically resemble already known species but differ from it genetically.”

Aditya said Makuta specimens and other populations reported from the Western Ghats assigned to Small Bent-winged Bats may represent Srini’s Bent-winged Bat. The taxonomic status of Nepal and Northeast India needs to be ascertained, he added.

Bats, one of the most misunderstood groups of mammals, represent more than a quarter of the mammalian diversity around the world, second only to rats, mice, and their likes, Prof C Srinivasulu said, adding that it is due to the nocturnal habits that not many people know about them.

As many as 136 species of bats are known in India and they have been found throughout the country from the middle Himalayas to the southernmost tip of India, from the dense rainforest of Northeast India to the arid regions of Rajasthan and Gujarat.

Insectivorous bats—whether forest dwelling or sharing human habitations—are ecologically important as they help in controlling insect populations that impact cash crops, and agriculture, and transmit diseases both in animals and humans, he added, while stressing these mammals are an important component of the ecosystem.