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| Hipposideros lankadiva gyi
Bates, Tun, Aung, Lu, Lum & Sein, 2015
FIGURE 3. Hipposideros lankadiva gyi from Pawtawmu Cave, Karmine Township, Kachin State, Myanmar. |
ABSTRACT
In January, 2011, a colony of Hipposideros lankadiva was discovered in Kachin State, upper Myanmar. The large size of the specimens when compared to those from peninsular India led to a review of the taxonomy of the species and the description of a new subspecies from Myanmar, with material from north-east India referred to this new taxon. The distribution of the species from throughout its range is summarised and mapped. Based on the material from Myanmar, new information is provided on the acoustic characters and the bacular morphology. Short notes are provided on its ecology in Myanmar and north-east India.
KEY WORDS: India, taxonomy, distribution, echolocation, ecology
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| FIGURE 6. Distribution of Hipposideros lankadiva. Red shading: distribution of H. l. gyi; brown shading: subspecies not known; blue shading: distribution of H. l. indus; green shading: distribution of H. l. lankadiva. Shading is for indicative purposes only; locations based on specimen data, either collected personally or from the literature, are shown as solid circles. |
Distribution. — Hipposideros lankadiva gyi is known from Myanmar and north-east India. In addition, the species is recorded from Sri Lanka, India, and Bangladesh (Fig. 6, for details see Appendix 1).
Remarks. — Although genetic data are not currently available for H. l. gyi, a follow-up study of Hipposideros lankadiva from throughout its range is being planned. This will include morphometric, genetic and acoustic data sets and will review in detail
the phylogeny of three subspecies.
The colony of H. l. gyi at Pawtawmu
Cave was estimated to number about 1,000
individuals, although no precise count could
be made. In addition, there were about
20,000 fruit bats, Eonycteris spelaea, and a
few individuals of the small leaf-nosed bat,
Aselliscus stoliczkanus. The cave, which is
at an elevation of 245 metres (798 feet)
above sea level, is situated in a limestone
outcrop. It comprises two stories with the
main chamber measuring about 260 m in
length, 6 m in width and 11 m in height. The
outcrop is surrounded by heavily disturbed
evergreen forest, which includes wild
banana and coconut (MMA and OMT, pers.
observations).
Material from Mizoram State, here
referred to H. l. gyi, was collected at an
elevation of about 250 metres beside a
bamboo plantation (Mandal et al., 1997)
whilst that from Manipur State was
collected at 175 metres on a hill-top with
rubber plantations (Mandal et al., 1993). In
Meghalaya, it was found in ‘incredible
numbers, closely covering the entire walls
and the roof’ at the end of a tunnel some
360 metres from the entrance of Siju Cave
(Kemp, 1924).
Information about the ecology of H.
lankadiva indus and H. l. lankadiva in
peninsular India and Sri Lanka is included
in Bates and Harrison (1997).
Conservation status. — The conservation
status of Hipposideros lankadiva is
listed by the IUCN Red List as ‘Least
Concern’ (Molur et al., 2008). According to
Bates and Harrison (1997), it is known from
a relatively small number of colonies but
many of these are large. One colony of over
11,000 individuals is known from Sri Lanka
and a colony of about 6000 individuals was
observed in Meghalaya (Molur et al., 2008).
Paul Bates, Ohnmar Tun, Moe Moe Aung, Aung Lu, M. Roi Lum and Mie Mie Sein. 2015. A Review of Hipposideros lankadiva Kelaart, 1850 (Chiroptera: Hipposideridae) with A Description of A New Subspecies from Myanmar.
Tropical Natural History. 15(2): 191–204.
Tropical Natural History. 15(2): 191–204.
As part of the mentoring session in scientific writing during the SEABCRU meeting at University of Mandalay, Myanmar 2 years ago. Here we present taxonomic papers based on a bunch of interesting unpublished data of local researchers there! Congratulations to Paul Bates, Ohnmar Tun, Moe Moe Aung, Aung Lu, Roi Lum and Prof. Mie Mie Sein on the first report and a new subspecies of Hipposideros lankadiva from Myanmar, H. lankadiva gyi, named after their retired senior bat researcher, 'Stanley' Khin Maung Gyi.
