By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Jan 14: Meghalaya has added another remarkable chapter to its rich natural history with the first-ever record of Titania’s woolly bat (Kerivoula titania) from India. The discovery was made in the forested landscapes of the East Khasi Hills, reinforcing Meghalaya’s standing as one of the country’s most biodiverse regions.
The finding has been reported in the latest issue of Animal Taxonomy and Ecology by a team of scientists led by Dr Uttam Saikia of the Shillong-based Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), in collaboration with researchers from two European natural history museums. The specimen was collected last winter from Thankharang village, a forest-fringed area in the East Khasi Hills district.
A forest-dependent and elusive species, K titania is rarely encountered. Dr Saikia employed an ultrasonic bat lure to attract the animal into a mist trap. Subsequent detailed morphological and genetic analyses, including comparisons with specimens preserved in overseas museums, confirmed its identity as Titania’s woolly bat.
The researchers noted minor genetic and morphological differences between the Meghalaya specimen and populations recorded from Southeast Asia, and have called for further surveys across Northeast India to better understand the species’ regional variation.
Previously known from Yunnan in China and parts of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar, the species had not been documented from India until now. With this addition, India’s bat diversity rises to 137 species.
Meghalaya alone is home to 68 bat species—one of the highest counts in the country.
