Diversity of cave-dwelling bats in Leang Londrong, Bantimurung-Bulusaraung National Park: An initial field note

Abstract

Leang Londrong is one the caves in Maros-Pangkep Karst Formation utilized for nature tourism and has become a habitat for bats. Little is known on the bats inhabited the cave. Therefore, this study is aimed to investigate the diversity, abundance, morphometric of cave-dwelling bats in Leang Londrong, Bantimurung-Bulusaraung National Park as well as their distribution of roosting sites and micro-climate conditions between May-June 2021. The bats were trapped and collected by using two-layered mist nets erected in front of cave entrance. With captured-marked-recaptured (CMR) method, bat diversity, abundance, and morphometric, were examined. Direct measurements on roosting sites were employed to determine micro-climate conditions. There were 3 species of Microchiropteran bats found in the site namely Rhinolophus arcuatus, Hipposideros diadema and Myotis sp. Total number of all bats trapped in the net during the observation days was 10 individuals. The largest bat species found living in the cave was Hipposideros diadema (average body length of 101.1 mm; tail of 51.46 mm; ear 24.5 mm; forearm length of 96.12 mm; tibia length of 34.6 mm; hind foot of 14.32 mm; and 63.75 g of weight). Meanwhile, Myotis sp. was known to be the smallest. For micro-climate conditions, the five roosting sites inside the cave had the average temperature of 26.58°C (range: 26.2-27.3) with the humidity in average around 92.88% (range 89.6-93.8%), while the average light intensity was found to be 0 lx in each roost with the noise level recorded in average of 65.08 dB.

Community Perspectives in Developing Bat-Cave Tourism in Leang Londrong, Bantimurung-Bulusaraung National Park: Comparing The Locals & Tourists

“…In one report, the species found were Hipposideros diadema and Miniopterus schreibersii [9]; while another study published in 2021 reported H. diadema, Rhinolopus arcuatus, and Myotis sp. roosting in the cave [10]. All the species found were Microchiropteran, which are mostly categorized as insectivore bats.…”