The occurence of the least pipistrelle Bat, Pipistrellus tenuis (Temminck, 1840) (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) in Goalpara District, Assam, India

Paper Details

Research Paper 07/01/2023
Views (1374) Download (135)
current_issue_feature_image
publication_file

The occurence of the least pipistrelle Bat, Pipistrellus tenuis (Temminck, 1840) (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) in Goalpara District, Assam, India

Jugal Kishore Talukdar, Akshay Kumar Haloi
J. Bio. Env. Sci.22( 1), 41-49, January 2023.
Certificate: JBES 2023 [Generate Certificate]

Abstract

A recent survey identified a colony of Pipistrellus tenuis (n = 5) in Kanyakuchi Pahar village (26°00’32.8″N 90°53’29.0″E), a rural remote site situated at Goalpara district of Assam. This species, commonly known as the Least Pipistrelle, was previously reported by Hinton and Lindsay (1926), Sinha (1999), Ghosh (2008), Saikia et al. (2011) and Boro et al. (2018) from different parts of Assam. The Goalpara district of western Assam is encircled by the foothills of Meghalaya to the South and the Brahmaputra River to the North possesses a variety of flora and fauna due to the dense foliage of the high forest canopy. The climatic condition of the region along with its topography favours roosting of bat population. The distribution of the bat species P. tenuis in the surveyed area has not been previously recorded. For the purpose of taxonomic identification, morphometric parameters (external and cranio-dental measurements) were compared to standard literature by Bates and Harrison (1997). Captured bat specimens (n=3) were examined at the ZSI (Zoological Survey of India), NERC-Shillong, Meghalaya. The recorded mean body weight of captured specimens was 2.61g ± 0.160 (S.D) and the mean forearm length (FA) was 27.39mm ± 0.165 (S.D). This manuscript validates sightings of this bat species at the study location, compares its morphometric and cranio-dental traits to standard literature (Bates and Harrison, 1997) for identification, discusses its distribution as well as its ecological importance.

VIEWS 205

Acharya PR, Adhikari H. 2010. Bats of Nepal : A field guide, small mammals’ conservation and research foundation, WWF-Nepal,116. https://www. researchgate.net/publication/303230201_Bats_of_N

Alfred JRB, Ramakrishna, Pradhan MS. 2006. Validation of Threatened Mammals of India, Published by the Director, Zool. Survey of India, Kolkata 1-568.

Ali A. 2022. Species diversity of bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) in Assam, Northeast India. Journal of Wildlife and Biodiversity 6(3), 115–125. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6603976

Animal diversity web (ADW). 2022. Pipistrillus tenuis, Available online: [Accessed on June 2022]. https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Pipistrel

Bat Conservation International (BCI). 2022. An Unlikely Hero with Global Impact, Available online: Accessed on 25 March 2022. https://www.batcon.org /about-bats/bats-101/

Bates PJJ, Harrison DL. 1997. Bats of the Indian Subcontinent, Harrison Zoological Museum Publications, Sevenoaks, UK 1- 258.

Boro A, Saikia PK, Saikia U. 2015. A preliminary assessment of bat diversity and people’s attitude towards their conservation in Basksa district, Western Assam. Keanean Joumal of Science 4, 3-8. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319990629

Boro A, Saikia PK, Saikia U. 2018. New records of bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) from Assam, northeastern India with a distribution list of the bat fauna of the state, Journal of Threatened Taxa 10(5), 11606-11612.

Brosset A. 1962. The bats of central and western India – Part I. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 59, 1-57.

Brosset A. 1963. The bats of central and western India. Part. IV. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 60, 337- 355.

Census of India. 2011. District Census Handbook Goalpara, Village and Town Directory, Assam. Series-19, Part XII-A, 63-403.

Climate Goalpara (India). 2022. Available online:https://en.climatedata.org/asia/india/assam/goalpara-24654/, (Accessed on 22 April 2022).

Corbet GB, Hill JE. 1992. The Mammals of the Indomalayan Region. British Museum (Natural History) / Oxford University Press, London 488.

Csorba G, Ujheli P, Thomas N. 2003. Horseshoe Bats of the World (Chioptera: Rhinolophidae) Alana Books 192.

Das PK. 2003. Studies on the Some Indian Chiroptera from West Bengal, Rec. zool. Surv. India, Dec. Occ Paper No. 217, 1-164.

Elangovan V, Mathur V, Kumar M, Satyapriya Y. 2018. Diversity and Conservation of Chiropteran Fauna, In book: Indian Hotspots, 57-87. DOI: 10.1007/978-981-10-6605-4_3

Francis CG, Rosell-Ambal B, Tabaranza L, Lumsden L, Heaney J, Gonzalez L. 2010. Pipistrellus tenuis (On-line). IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, [Accessed April 20, 2022].

Francis CM. 2008. A Field Guide to the Mammals of Southeast Asia, Journal of Mammalogy, London Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, and Oxford, United Kingdom 3(90), 392.

Ghosh MK. 2005. Catalogue of Chiroptera in the collection of the Zoological Survey of India, Part I: Megachiroptera. Rec. Zool. Surv. India, Occ. Paper No. 232, 1-143.

Ghosh MK. 2008. Catalogue of Chiroptera in the collection of the Zoological Survey of India, Part II: Microchiroptera. Rec. Zool. Survey India, Occ. Paper No. 281, 1-339.

Hamidullah, Arshad J, Rasheed B, Abidullah, Khan MI. 2019. Morphological Differentiation in Some Pipistrellus sp. (Chiroptera) Captured from Bajaur Agency, Pakistan, Pakistan Journal of Zoology 51(2), 399-799, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17582 /journal.pjz/2019.51.2.689.695

Hinton MAC, Lindsay HM. 1926. Report No 41: Assam and Mishmi Hills. Bombay Natural History Society’s Mammal Survey of India, Burma and Ceylon, Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 31, 383-403.

Javid A, Hassanmm, Hussain SM, Iqbal KJ. 2011. The recent record of the Asiatic lesser yellow house bat (Scotophilus kuhlii) from Punjab, Pakistan. Mammalia 78, 133-137. https://doi.org/10.1515/ mammalia-2013-0012

Kalka MB. 2008. Bats Limit Arthropods and Herbivory in a Tropical Forest, Science 320(5872), 71. https://doi:10.1126/science.1153352.

Kock D, Bhat HR. 1994. Hipposideros hypophyllus n. sp. of the H. bicolor-group from peninsular India (Mammalia: Chiroptera: Hipposideridae), Senckenbergiana biologica 73(1-2), 25-31.

Koopman KF. 1993. Order Chiroptera. In: Mammal species of the world: A taxonomic and geographic reference (eds. D.E. Wilson and D.M. Reeder), Second ed. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC pp. 137-241

Korad V, Yardi K, Raut R. 2007. Diversity and distribution of bats in the Western Ghats of India. Zoos Print Journal, 2752-2758. DOI:10.11609/ JoTT.ZPJ.1563.2752-8

Kunz TH, Parsons S. 1988. Ecological and behavioural methods for the study of bats. 1st ed. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C, 1-920.

Molur S, Marimuthu G, Srinivasulu C, Sharoukh M, Hutson AM, Bates PJJ, Walker, Priya KP, Priya ARB. 2002. Status of South Asian Chiroptera: Conservation Assessment and Management Plan (C.A.M.P.) Workshop Report, 2002. Conservation Breeding Specialist Group, South Asia, Department of Animal Behaviour and Physiology, School of Biological Sciences, Madurai Kamara University, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. 320pp.

Pradhan MS. 2008. Mammals In Fauna of Goa State, State Fauna Series, (Publ.: Director, Zool. Survey. India, Kolkata, 16, 431-496. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272669858

Ramakrishna, Pradhan MS, Thakur S. 2003. Status Survey of Endangered Species: Wroughton’s Free-tailed bat: Otomops wroughtoni Thomas, 1913. Publ: Director, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata 1-16.

Saha A, Hassan MK, Mohammed MF. 2016. Diversity and Morphometry of Chiropteran Fauna in Jahangirnagar University campus, Savar, Dhaka Bangladesh: Bangladesh J. Zool 43(2), 201-212. DOI: 10.3329/bjz.v43i2.27392

Saikia U, Reudi M, Chakravarty R, Chaudhary HC. 2021. Bats of Meghalaya, Published: Forest & Env. Department, Govt. of Meghalaya and Zoological survey of India, Shillong 180.

Saikia U, Thakur ML, Bawri M, Bhattacherjee PC. 2011. An inventory of the chiropteran fauna of Himachal Pradesh, northwestern India with some ecological observation Journal of Threatened Taxa 3(4), 1637-1655. DOI: 10.11609/JoTT.o2409.1637-55

Saikia U. 2018. A review of Chiropterological studies and a distributional list of the Bat Fauna of India, Rec. Zool. Surv. India 118(3), 242-280. DOI: 10.26515/rzsi/v118/i3/2018/121056

Saikia U. 2019. Demystifying bats from enigma to science, MOEF, Zoological Survey of India, Shillong-Meghalaya 1-13.

Simmons NB. 2018. Order Chiroptera. In: Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder, eds., Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.

Sinha YP. 1973. Taxonomic studies on the Indian horseshoe bats of the genus Rhinolophus Lacépède. Mammalia 37(4), 603-630.

Sinha YP. 1970. Taxonomic notes on some Indian bats. Mammalia 34, 81-92

Sinha YP. 1999. Contribution to the knowledge of Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) of North Eastm Hills, India. Rec. Zool. Survey of India, Occ. Paper No. 174, 1-52.

Srinivasulu C, Srinivasulu B. 2001. Bats of the Indian subcontinent – An update. Current Science 80(11), 1378-1380.

Srinivasulu C, Srinivasulu B. 2006. First record of Hipposiderosater Templeton, 1848 from Andhra Pradesh, India with a description of a new subspecies. Zoos’ Print Journal 21(5), 2241-2244. DOI:10.11609 /JoTT.ZPJ.1505.2241-4

Talmale SS, Saikia U. 2018. Fauna of India Checklist: A Checklist of Indian Bat Species (Mammalia: Chiroptera), Zoological Survey of India 1-17. https://zsi.gov.in/WriteReadData/userfiles /file/Checklist/Checklist%20of%20Indian%20Chirop

Vanitharani J. 2006. Noteworthy Representatives of Bat Species in Agasthiyamalai Biosphere, Reserve, Tamil Nadu. J. Theo. Exper. Biology 22(2), 45-59.

Wilson DE, Mittermeier RA. 2019. Vespertilionidae. In: Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 9 Bats. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5281 /zenodo.