Glischropus aquilus (photo Joe Chun-Chia Huang)

They have typical Pipistrellus appearance but are characterized by the thickened pads at the base of thumbs. They roost in bamboo stalks but are not the flat-headed Tylonycteris of Southeast Asia nor the funnel-eared Kerivoula of Taiwan. The genus Glischropus is a group of small vespertilionid bats endemic to the Indo-Malayan region. Three species have been recognized, including G. bucephalus earlier described by Dr Gábor Csorba of the Hungarian Nature History Museum (HNHM) in 2013. However, this month, Dr Csorba, Tamás Görföl (HNHM), and four SEABCRU committee bring exciting news of another new Glischropus species. Based on morphological and genetic evidence, Glischropus aquilus, the fourth member of the genus, is reported from southwestern Sumatra of Indonesia. The bat is named for its dark coloration, which distinguishes the species from its three congeners. This finding brings the count of bats to 88 species for Sumatra and 222 species for Indonesia. The project is supported by a collaboration between four museums of four countries, highlighting the significance of SEABCRU taxonomic network. Thumb-pads up!

Original Citation: Gábor Csorba, Tamás Görföl, Sigit Wiantoro, Tigga Kingston, Paul J. J. Bates, and Joe Chun-Chia Huang. Thumb-pads up—a new species of thick-thumbed bat from Sumatra (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae: Glischropus). Zootaxa 3980 (2): 267–278. DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3980.2.7

A complicated chap — Rhinolophus affinis from Malaysia. Photo Tigga Kingston

The Intermediate Horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus affinis) is one of the most common cave species using constant frequency (CF) calls in Southeast Asia. In the past, variations of morphology and echolocation calls within the species have been observed among different geographic populations. However, the patterns of intra-specific variations across its extent and phylogeographic relationships among traits had not been not been fully explored. Cambodian researcher, Mr. Saveng Ith, led research on the geographic variation of R. affinis in mainland Southeast Asia. With morphological data, the researchers validated the two named subspecies in the region and reported a third form from Vietnam and Myanmar. Echolocation calls also show high variation in peak frequency but the divergence cannot be correlated with morphological form nor maternal lineages. The mismatches between the three traits in this study pose further questions on how CF bat species shape their morphology and echolocation.

The findings are published in the latest issue of Zoological Studies by Saveng and his collaborators, including another seven SEABCRU associates.

Original Citation: Saveng Ith, Sara Bumrungsri, Neil M Furey, Paul JJ Bates, Monwadee Wonglapsuwan, Faisal Ali Anwarali Khan, Vu Dinh Thong, Pipat Soisook, Chutamas Satasook and Nikky M Thomas. Taxonomic implications of geographical variation in Rhinolophus affinis (Chiroptera: Rhinolophidae) in mainland Southeast Asia. Zoological Studies, 54(31): p 1-29.

Hypsugo dolichodon displaying its rather impressive canines

Skulls of H.dolichodon and H. pulveratus

TAMÁS GÖRFÖL, GÁBOR CSORBA, JUDITH L. EGER, NGUYEN TRUONG SON & CHARLES M. FRANCIS (2014). Canines make the difference: a new species of Hypsugo (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) from Laos and Vietnam. Zootaxa 3887 (2): 239–250

The article can be downloaded here

Bounsavane Douangboubpha, Sara Bumrungsri, Pipat Soisook, Sunate Karapan & Paul J J Bates (2014). The discovery of Kerivoula krauensis in southern peninsular Thailand provides new information on the distribution and conservation status of this data deficient species. Songklanakarin Journal of Science and Technology 36: 577-582.  The article can be downloaded here.

Kerivoula krauensis records from Hala-Bala Wildlife Sanctuary, Narathiwat Province, Thailand.

Distribution map of K. krauensis from Thailand (black circle) and Malaysia (black star).

The workshop was hosted by the University of Mandalay, Myanmar (Professor Mie Mie Sein, Head of Zoology and Sai Sein Oo Lin, Lecturer University of Bhamo), and was conducted in collaboration with the Harrison Institute (Dr Paul Bates).  The workshop was a great success, with 40 participants drawn from 18 universities and colleges across Myanmar. The SEABCRU sponsored 30 participants, with the University of Mandalay finding support for an additional 10 young MSc students.

SEABCRU Bat Conservation Research Workshop, Mandalay 2014

We also worked hard to raise the profile of bats in Myanmar, and received substantial media coverage, including articles by MRTV (Myanmar Radio & TV), Skynet, The Mirror (national newspaper – Burmese language), Yadanapon (local newspaper — Burmese language) and New Light of Myanmar (national newspaper – Burmese and English editions)

Aims and Objectives:

The global aim of the workshop was to integrate Myanmar researchers into the SEABCRU network. Participants were faculty of Myanmar universities focusing primarily on bats, and who had existing data to publish. In addition, with support from the University of Mandalay, we had ten young MSc students following, who we hope will continue on in bat research. The specific objectives were to:

i)        Develop capacity and curatorial skills to establish a national bat collection, hosted at Mandalay University (Taxonomy Group) – despite 15 years of active research on bats there is no national repository for material, hampering taxonomic research and biodiversity studies.

ii)      Provide training on echolocation recording and analysis techniques, and discuss studies that can use acoustic survey and monitoring, and the role of acoustics in taxonomy (Acoustics Group)

iii)    Initiate a national survey of Pteropus colonies (Flying Fox Group)

iv)    Build faculty capacity to publish their research in international journals (Publishing Group) – although there are c. 50 Myanmar bat researchers, there have been only 10 publications in accessible (international or regional) journals, none of which have Myanmar nationals as the first author.

v)      Train Myanmar researchers in the use of Darwin Core Format for biodiversity data management, such that they can contribute to the SEABCRU database and generate data compatible with other international repositories (e.g. GBIF).

The five days went incredibly quickly, but we achieved a lot! The full workshop report is soon to follow, but here is a brief summary by group.

Taxonomic & Curatorial Capacity

Lead:  Dr Pipat Soisook. Facilitators: Dr Faisal Anwarali Khan, Bounsavane Douangboubpha, Dr Paul Bates, Dr Ibnu Maryanto, Susan Tsang

Objectives:

• develop capacity for a well-curated national collection
• develop a taxonomic network between Myanmar and other SE Asian researchers
• identify potential projects for joint publications

What we did:

During the workshop, we trained 13 participants (10 professors/lecturers with PhD and 3 MSc students) from 9 universities in Myanmar in the best practice for taxonomic data collection, specifically:

• What data need to be collected in the field
• How to set up harp traps and mist-net.
• How to handle bats and take standard external measurements of the bats.
• How to prepare specimens for the collection; e.g. labelling, alcohol, jars.
• How to run and manage collection in long term; e.g. specimens and prepare electronic database.
• What is a loan policy?

 
We explained how collection and good data are important for taxonomic research and conservation. Group members also exchanged experience about each other’s museums with Myanmar participants e.g. about the location of the museum, when the museum was established, number of specimens in the museum, and problems or challenges during developing the museum. Each of participants shared the information of current situation about collection/specimens in their own university, in which none of them have or started to have their own collection.

The most important activity of the group during the workshop was to revisit the specimen collection of the Department of Zoology, University of Mandalay. As a group, Tax & Sys member swith the participants have initiated the establishment of the bat specimen collection with a name ‘University of Mandalay Zoological Collection (UMZC)’.  The head of the department, Professor Dr Mie Mie Sein and Professor Dr Naw Dolly Wilbur will be in charge of the collection. This collection is expected to be the main taxonomic collection in upper Myanmar. This is a promising start for Myanmar’s bat collection as it comprises at least 50 specimens from 18 bat species, including unreported species of Hipposideros lankadiva and H. pratti.

Another major activity of the group members were by pairing up with the participants to work on their unpublished taxonomic/survey data.  We expect that from this activity at least 4 papers with great potential to contribute to the Myanmar’s bat taxonomy will be published soon.

Acoustic Surveys

Lead: Dr Tigga Kingston. Facilitators: Joe Chun-Chia Huang, Dr Neil Furey, Dr Vu Dinh Thong. 

Objectives:

• to introduce the biology and application of echolocation in studies on bat ecology and taxonomy.
• to make participants familiar with different recording techniques, the use of different detectors in different environments and contexts, and the analysis of recordings for call measurements.
• to provide guidelines in equipment selection, experimental designs for acoustic surveys and monitoring.
• to explain the procedure of reference call library development and the importance for regional research and conservation in bats.

What we did:

The participants comprised eleven Myanmar bat researchers, including ten university lecturers and one masters student.

1. three face-to-face lectures on “Echolocation call designs: the role of ecology and taxonomy”, “Bat echolocation calls: description and measurement”, and “Field equipment and recording methods” were given by Dr. Kingston, Dr. Thong, and Huang.
2. two in-class trainings on using BatSound Pro software (http://www.batsound.com/) for call description and  measurements by Dr. Furey and Huang
3. two field training sessions on the use of Pettersson D240X bat detector (http://www.batsound.com/?p=9) for call recording, reference call collection in Yankin Hill, Patheingyi Township, Mandalay and University Mandalay campus.
4. Three additional lectures on “echolocation call variations”, “Designs of acoustic survey and monitory”, and “echolocation call library” were designed by Dr. Kingston, Dr. Furey, and Huang were distributed. Additional reference on bat echolocation studies and standard data sheets for call measurements were provided

Data Management

Leads: Danny Squire, Marina Fisher-Phelps

Objectives:

Data Management Objectives:

1. Participants understand the importance of data management
2. Participants convert existing research data into SEABCRU Darwin Core format
3. Participants able to use SEABCRU Darwin Core data collection format in their future research initiatives
4. Participants able to instruct others in the use of SEABCRU Darwin Core format

Geographically Information Systems (GIS) Objectives:

1. Participants understand the uses of digitally maps in publications and presentations
2. Participants understand what a geographic datum is and how it applies to digital mapping and spatial data collection
3. Participants format spatial data so that it can be easily loaded into the GIS software DIVA-GIS
4. Participants use spatial data to build maps of point data that can be used in publications and presentations

 What we did:

The 2014 Data Management and GIS Workshop at Mandalay consisted of instructional presentations by the instructors and hands-on activities for the participants. The participants were instructed in the benefits of having a data management plan and using GIS in their own research and at their universities. Participants learned about the development of the Darwin Core format and how it is used by SEABCRU in data collection and sharing. Participants learned the difference between geographic datums and how to efficiently store spatial coordinates so that they can imported into GIS software. Participants were given the open-source GIS software DIVA-GIS for use during and after the workshop. The participants also created maps using the data collected by the workshop as a whole. Throughout the workshop participants were given hands-on activities so they could practice and demonstrate mastery of the training.

Flying Fox Survey and Monitoring 

Lead: Dr Tammy Mildenstein, Facilitators: Prof. Paul Racey, Susan Tsang

Objectives:

 The flying fox group focused on the SEABCRU flying fox priority of collating information on current populations and distributions of flying fox species. In conducting the workshop activities, we were able to

a) identify information gaps,
b) identify conservation priorities,
c) collate existing population data of confirmed flying fox roosts,
d) train participants in standardized monitoring protocols and personal protective measures regarding pathogen transmission.

What we did:

Participants comprised 8 post-doctoral professors and 4 M.Sc. students representing 5 universities across Myanmar. We reiterated the importance of monitoring flying fox colonies for conservation, along with why protection of flying foxes should be a priority because of the ecosystem services they provide. We taught the participants the standardized methods for monitoring and assessment common for flying fox colonies. We followed up with hands-on training by visiting a Pteropus giganteus colony  two hours drive from Mandalay (Shwe Saydi Pagoda) and gave the participants the opportunity to practice both direct and emergence counts. While at the site, an overview of personal protective equipment was given and each participant was familiarized with why this is important to prevent pathogen transmission. After reassembling in the classroom the following day, we analyzed the data as a group for a finalized population estimate. Using the data collected from the participants, we demonstrated common sources of variance and discussed how that may affect trend detection. We were able to determine that the Shwe Saydi population has declined in the past decade by comparing the count data we took to data available from the dissertation of one of the participants (Moe Moe Aung, 2006), either due to increased human activity or displacement of bats by birds at the pagoda. The participants were thus able to have a real example of how historical information about the site can add value to the study and provide keener insight on flying fox population trends. We had the participants recap what they had learned at the end of the workshop.

In a session that involved participants from all working groups, we asked for information to help create a list of reported flying fox roost sites around Myanmar, which were primarily clustered around either the Mandalay-Sagaing Region or in areas near Yangon (Fig. 8). Very little information is available about the status of flying fox roosts in more remote areas such as Kachin.  Many of the roost sites indicated had not been confirmed, and provide opportunities for projects for M.Sc. students.

Publishing In Regional and International Journals 

Lead Dr. Neil Furey. Facilitators Dr Dave Lane, Dr Zubaid Akbar, all attendant steering committee. 

Objectives:

The majority of participants have already written research theses at Myanmar universities, and obtained their M.Sc. or Ph.D. degrees, but none have published their work in major international Journals. Acceptance of publications will raise the profile of Myanmar bat research and conservation activities both locally and internationally. An additional benefit/outcome anticipated from this internationalization exercise is the development of collaborative relationships and possible linking in to grant-giving bodies for future research proposals. The objectives of this section were thus:

• To explain the scientific publishing process
• To demonstrate how a scientific paper is written by actually preparing articles using real data collected by each participant

What we did:

Participants were first asked to describe the bat research data sets they had generated through prior work (available as dissertations and theses, but not published). They were then matched to members of the steering committee with similar interests and experience. These steering committee members then acted as mentors, working one-on-one or in pairs or small groups, through practical exercises. In these exercises, basic outlines of each part of a publication were introduced, and then the pairs/groups prepared bullet point summaries of each section based on their own data.

At the end of the day and a half, the participants each presented a summary of the draft paper outline. Participants will work with their mentors to prepare full drafts within three months, with the deadline for submission to an international journal set at 6 months.
 

And here is an album of participants and facilitators. Thank you to everyone for working so hard together to make the workshop a success!! It is so exciting to have bat researchers from Myanmar joining the SEABCRU.

The research team claimed six Chyrsopteron species from Asia and recognized Chyrsopteron as a valid taxonomic name. All the six species are large Myotis bats with beautiful yellowish or reddish orange fur and black patches on wings. In addition, a red form Chyrsopteron which previously known as “M. formosus” and widely-distributed in Asia, now is identified as M. refoniger instead.

Photos by Joe Chun-Chia Huang and Dr hao-Chih Kou

The findings are the output of collaboration among ten researchers from nine institutes of seven countries through Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Europe. Again, this study highlights the significance of cross-region cooperation in understanding bat diversity in the region.

Citation: Gábor Csorba, Cheng-Han Chou, Manuel Ruedi, Tamás Görföl, Masaharu Motokawa, Sigit Wiantoro, Vu Dinh Thong, Nguyen Truong Son, Liang-Kong Lin, and Neil Furey. 2014. The reds and the yellows: a review of Asian Chrysopteron Jentink, 1910(Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae: Myotis). Journal of Mammalogy, 95(4):663–678

Rhinolophus pearsonii (copyright Juliana Senawi)

Cambodia has been described as one of the least explored countries in term of it bat fauna in the Southeast Asia region. However, extensive field expeditions in recent years have revealed a total of 66 species of bats occurred in Cambodia (more than double in terms of the number of species reported before). In addition, recent surveys by Chheang et al. 2013 added four new records to the country, thus increasing the species checklist to 70 species. Species recently collected were Cynopterus horsfieldii, Coelops frithii, Rhinolophus pearsonii and Falsistrellus affinis. C. horsfieldii and C. frithii were predicted to occur in Cambodia, however, this is the first physical evidence of the species recorded. Although none of the newly-recorded species are in of global conservation concern, F. affinis is evidently very rare and in this country this species only known from a single cave. Therefore, information about species and their distribution pattern are very important for local conservation action.

Cynopterus horsefieldii (copyright Juliana Senawi)

Original citation: Chheang, S., J.J.P. Bates, K. Boughey, G. Csorba, B. Hayes, S. Ith, A. Mould, S. Phauk and M. Furey. 2013. Further new country records of for bat species (Chiroptera) from Cambodia and a call for information. Cambodian Journal of Natural History, 2: 73-82.

Chheang et al. 2013. Four new bats for Cambodia

Hipposideros armiger (Photo T. Kingston)

An international team of scientist, including one of the SEABCRU committee members Dr Pipat Soisook, published results of the study of the population history of Hipposideros armiger, a fairly common cave-dwelling Leaf-nosed bat in the Oriental region, in the latest issue of Journal of Biogeography. The authors examined the evolutionary history of this species using two mtDNA regions and seven nuclear microsatellite loci of specimens from South China, mainland Southeast Asia and the South Himalayas. The study found that H. armiger comprises two distinct mtDNA clades with seven subclades. The results revealed there were two population expansion events at about 0.62 Ma and about 0.25 Ma. The authors suggested that divergence and population expansion of H. armiger was related to Pleistocene climatic changes.

Find out more: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jbi.12163/abstract

Reference: Lin, A.-Q., G. Csorba, L.-F.Li, T.-L.Jiang, G.-J.Lu, V. D. Thong, P. Soisook, K.-P.Sun, and J. Feng. 2014. Phylogeography of Hipposideros armiger (Chiroptera: Hipposideridae) in the Oriental Region: the contribution of multiple Pleistocene glacial refugia and intrinsic factors to contemporary population genetic structure. Journal of Biogeography, 41: 317–327.

Tylonycteris pachypus fulvus (from Huang et al. 2014)

The bat world currently includes three bamboo bat species: the Greater Bamboo Bat (Tylonycteris robustula),  the Lesser Bamboo Bat (Tylonycteris pachypus), and the Pygmy Bamboo Bat (Tylonycteris pygmaeus). Of these, the Greater and Lesser Bamboo Bats are distributed  widely in South and Southeast Asia while the Pygmy Bamboo Bat is only known from its type locality in southern China. Within Southeast Asia, Tylonycteris pachypus has been recorded from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam with five recognized subspecies: T. p. aurex, T. p. bhakti, T. p. fulvidus, T. p. meyeri, and T. p. pachypus. Recently, a bat specialist team conducted a study on karyotypes and Mitochondrial DNA of populations belonging to T. p. fulvidus from China and Thailand with reference to previously published data. The study results indicated that the Tylonycteris pachypus complex contains a cryptic species. Evidentially, karyotypes of T. p. fulvidus from China and Thailand (2n = 30) are distinct from those of T. p. pachypus (2n = 46) and T. robustula (2n = 32) from Malaysia. This exciting finding promotes further studies on karyotypes and genetics of all five recognized subspecies of Tylonycteris pachypus and Tylonycteris pygmaeus through their distributional ranges for extensive comparison and taxonomic confirmation.

Original citation: Huang, C., W. Yu, Z. Xu, Y. Qiu, M. Chen, B. Qiu, M. Motokawa, M. Harada, Y. Li, and Y. Wu. 2014. A cryptic species of the Tylonycteris pachypus complex (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) and its population genetic structure in Southern China and nearby region. International Journal of Biological Sciences, 10(2): 200-211.

The new species, Myotis indochinensis,  is characterised by a relatively long forearm, moderately long ears, flat cranial profile and wide anteorbital bridge. It shows the characteristics of both ‘Myotis’ and ‘Selysius’ ecomorphs, hence our morphological investigations support the recent phylogenetic analyses showing that former ‘subgenera’ of Myotis are in fact paraphyletic groups, even within Southeast Asia. Nevertheless, many of the external and craniodental features formerly used to separate these subgenera provide a practical means of grouping species. An identification key to the middle and large-sized Indomalayan Myotis with small feet is also provided in the article to help the work with this group of species.

Original citation: Son, N.T., T. Görföl, C.M. Francis, M. Motokawa, M., P. Estók, H. Endo, V. Dinh Thong, N.X. Dang, T. Oshida, and G. Csorba. 2013. Description of a new species of Myotis (Vespertilionidae) from Vietnam. Acta Chiropterologica, 15(2): 473-483.