A Recent Bat Survey Reveals Bukit Barisan Selatan Landscape as a Chiropteran Diversity Hotspot in Sumatra

Abstract

National Park is one of the last refuges protecting intact forest and a representative mammalian fauna in Sumatra. However, knowledge of bat diversity in the area is limited. From 2010 to 2012, 47 bat species were recorded through a series of surveys in 12 localities within and around the national park. An additional six species from the area were identified from the mammal collection of the Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense, Indonesia. At least seven of the species reported in this study are new records for Sumatra, including Kerivoula krauensis, K. lenis, K. minuta, Murina rozendaali, Myotis horsfieldii, Myotis cf. borneoensis, and Rhinolophus borneensis/celebensis. Moreover, a finding of two distinct morphs of Chironax melanocephalus coexisting in the study area indicates another possible undescribed species. With 60 species, we consider Bukit Barisan Selatan Landscape to be a Southeast Asian bat diversity hotspot and of critical importance in maintaining bat diversity in Sumatra.

Thumb-pads up—a new species of thick-thumbed bat from Sumatra (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae: Glischropus)

“…We confirmed the unidentified Glischropus bat reported by Huang et al (2014) as a species distinct from its congeners, representing a new species of the genus. Previously, only G. tylopus has been confirmed from Sumatra with records known exclusively from the province of North Sumatra (van Strien 1996; Csorba 2011; Csorba unpublished data); hence, according to our present knowledge, the two species are allopatric on the island.…”

“…The subsequent investigation of the holotype and three topotype specimens of G. batjanus stored in the collection of Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin supported this view (Csorba unpublished data); hence, currently three species are recognized in the genus: G. tylopus, G. javanus, and the recently described G. bucephalus (Csorba 2011). During review of material recently collected in Sumatra, Indonesia, Huang et al (2014) reported one specimen of a yet undescribed species that belongs to the Glischropus genus. In this paper we describe this new species using morphological and molecular evidence.…”

“…A third species of thick-thumbed bats, G. javanus, is also recorded from Indonesia with only one specimen known from a single locality in West Java (Csorba 2011). Based on a survey in southwestern Sumatra and a literature review, Huang et al (2014) compiled a list of 87 bat species for the island of Sumatra. Our finding of G. aquilus n. sp.…”

“…The only known specimen was caught along a trail in a secondary forest with a four-bank harp-trap which was set near a bamboo stand and a small stream. Another 14 species were recorded in the forest (including Tylonycteris robustula another bamboo specialist) and an additional eight species from a plantation nearby; hence, 23 bat species were confirmed from the site (Huang et al 2014). Each symbol represents the position of an individual skull projected on the first two principal components, which together accounted for 91% of the total variation.…”

Echolocation and roosting ecology determine sensitivity of forest‐dependent bats to coffee agriculture

“…Bats are generally common and diverse in coffee‐dominated landscapes across tropical regions (the Neotropics—reviewed by Maas et al., , the Asian tropics—Huang et al., ; Wordley et al., ). However, the abundance and species richness of bats in coffee farms decreases as management intensifies (Mendenhall et al., ).…”