Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 July 2023 | 15(7): 23507–23513
ISSN 0974-7907
(Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8411.15.7.23507-23513
#8411 | Received 17
February 2023 | Final received 30 May 2023 | Finally accepted 01 July 2023
Re-sighting record of Kelaart’s Pipistrelle Pipistrellus
ceylonicus (Kelaart,
1852) (Mammalia: Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae)
from Rajasthan, India
Dharmendra Khandal
1, Dau Lal Bohra 2 & Shyamkant S. Talmale 3
1 Tiger Watch, Maa
Farm, Ranthambhore Road, Sawai
Madhopur, Rajasthan 322001, India.
1 Present address: Nachou Mayai Leikai,
Bishnupur District, Pincode,
Manipur 795126, India.
2 P.G. Department of Zoology, Seth
G.B. Podar College, Nawalgarh,
Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan 333042, India.
3 Zoological Survey of India,
Western Regional Centre, Vidyanagar, Sector-29, Ravet
Road, PCNT Post, Pune, Maharashtra 411044, India.
1 dharmkhandal@gmail.com
(corresponding author), 2 daulalbohara@yahoo.com, 3 s_talmale@yahoo.co.in
Abstract: Despite numerous studies and
surveys targeting Chiroptera in Rajasthan since 1955,
Pipistrellus ceylonicus has
not been observed in the state for more than a century since 1913. Based on an adult male specimen
recovered from Kusthala village in Sawai Madhopur district of
Rajasthan, we report the occurrence of this species from the state after more
than a century.
Keywords: Bat, occurrence, population,
rediscovery, Sawai Madhopur.
Editor: P.O. Nameer,
Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur, India. Date of publication: 26 July 2023 (online & print)
Citation: Khandal, D., D.L. Bohra & S.S. Talmale
(2023).
Re-sighting record of Kelaart’s Pipistrelle Pipistrellus
ceylonicus (Kelaart,
1852) (Mammalia: Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae)
from Rajasthan, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 15(7): 23507–23513. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8411.15.7.23507-23513
Copyright: © Khandal et al. 2023. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and
distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the
author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: Tiger
Watch.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Author details: Dr. Dharmendra Khandal has
served as conservation biologist with Tiger Watch since 2003. His work with Tiger Watch has involved pioneering ground breaking initiatives in proactive anti-poaching, the monitoring of wildlife & scientific research. He has also forged new frontiers in the world of community based conservation through the Village Wildlife Volunteer program in the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve. He is also the co-author of Unexplored Ranthambhore, a first of its kind book on the canids and Striped Hyena in Ranthambhore. Dr. Dau Lal Bohra, is currently head of the Department of Zoology at the Seth Gyaniram Bansidhar Podar College in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan. He has numerous
research papers to his credit and is recognised for his significant contributions to vulture conservation in Rajasthan. Dr. S. Talmale, is a taxonomist working on Indian small mammals and (Insecta) Odonata with several research papers and books to his credit. He is currently affiliated with the Zoological Survey of India.
Author contributions: This bat was spotted and captured in an injured state by DK. Unable to rehabilitate it, after its natural death, its skull was removed by DLB for the identification of the specimen. The morphometric measurements were also carried out by him. SST identified this specimen and prepared the draft of this paper.
Acknowledgements: The authors are grateful to Mr.
Dieter Gutmann & Mrs. Liz Gutmann, and Tiger Watch for their unstinting
support.
INTRODUCTION
A small-sized bat Pipistrellus ceylonicus was
initially recorded from Rajasthan at Mt. Abu during the mammal surveys of
India, Burma, and Ceylon in 1911–1923 conducted by the Bombay Natural
History Society (BNHS). In this survey two males and one female of this species
were collected in March–July 1913 (Ryley 1914). Since that time, a large number
of surveys targeting the chiropteran fauna of the state were undertaken e.g.,
Garg (1955); Prakash (1961, 1963, 1973); Agrawal (1967); Biswas & Ghosh
(1968); Sinha (1975, 1976a,b, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980a,b, 1981, 1983, 1996);
Gaur (1981); Advani (1982); Ramaswami & Kumar
(1963); Kumar (1965); Wason (1978); Agarwal & Gupta (1982); Lall (1985); Bhupathy (1987);
Gupta & Trivedi (1989); Trivedi & Lall
(1989); Sharma (1986); Agarwal et al. (1981); Trivedi (1991); Purohit & Senacha (2002,
2004a,b); Senacha (2003, 2006); Trivedi
et al. (2003); Dookia (2004); Dookia
& Tak (2004); Senacha & Purohit
(2004); Trivedi & Lall
(2004, 2006); Senacha et al. (2006); Srinivasulu & Srinivasulu
(2006); Purohit et al. (2006); and Khandal et al. (2022). However, Pipistrellus ceylonicus was not recorded in any of
these surveys (Figure 1).
MATERIAL AND METHODS
In November 2021, an injured
adult male Pipistrellus was rescued from Kusthala village (25.96940N, 76.29290E)
in Sawai Madhopur,
Rajasthan (Image 1 & 2). The bat was treated at home and kept in a box
but did not survive. The specimen collection site is near the state highway close to the
village of Kusthala, in the district of Sawai Madhopur. The landscape is
dominated by agricultural fields close to a small human
settlement. The area lies near a very significant ecosystem, i.e.,
the forests of Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve which is
barely 4.5 km away. Specimen and habitat photographs were taken with a
Nikon D850 DSLR equipped with a 17–35 mm lens. Morphological data was taken by
manual examination in which measurements were taken with a digital caliper.
The specimen was preserved in 70%
ethanol. Standard morphological measurements of the specimen
and cranio-dental measurements of the extracted skull were taken
using a digital calliper accurate to the nearest 0.1 mm and 0.01 mm,
respectively. The morphological and craniodental description
(Table 1) of the bat matched with descriptions provided by Bates & Harrison (1997) and Korad & Yardi
(2004) confirming the specimen as Pipistrellus
ceylonicus (Kelaart,
1852).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Kelaart’s Pipistrelle, Pipistrellus
ceylonicus is a large sized Pipistrellus
with a forearm length of 33–42 mm (Bates & Harrison 1997). They have
variable dorsal pelage coloration ranging from grey-brown to chestnut, reddish
or golden-brown colour. The ears, naked areas of the
face, wings and interfemoral membrane are a uniform dark brown. The present
specimen was grayish-brown dorsally and had dark hairs with pale grey tips on
the ventrum (Image 1 & 2). The skull is robust
with condylo-canine length of 13.6 mm and the upper
toothrow length (cm3) is 5.8 mm (Image 3 A & B). The first upper
incisor (i2) is bicuspidate; the second incisor (i3) is
larger in size and two-thirds the height of i2. The first small
premolar (pm2) intruded into the toothrow, and was not visible on
the outside (Image 4 A & B). The upper canine and posterior premolar (pm4)
are almost in contact. The lower incisors are trifid and overlap slightly
(Image 5).
Three subspecies under P. ceylonicus recognized from India by Ellerman &
Morrison-Scott (1951), viz., Vesperugo
indicus Dobson, 1878 (type from Mangalore, Malabar Coast, Karnataka), Pipistrellus chrysothrix
Wroughton, 1899 (type from Mheskatri,
Surat Dangs, Gujarat) and P.c. subcanus
Thomas, 1915 (type from Yalala, Junagarh,
Kathiawar, Gujarat). Individual body color variation was observed in
individuals of the same colony of P. ceylonicus
by Brosset (1962). Based on variation in colour, Khajuria (1978, 1980) has
synonymised crysothrix
with indicus. Lal (1984) has considered both crysothrix
and subcanus as synonyms of Pipistrellus cylonicus
indicus. Moratelli
& Burgain (2019) considered all populations of P.
ceylonicus from the mainland Indian subcontinent
with distribution in eastern and southeastern Pakistan, India and Bangladesh
are to represent a single subspecies, Pipistrellus
ceylonicus indicus Dobson, 1878.
Some of the earlier works on
taxonomy, biology and ecology of bats of Rajasthan (Prakash 1961; Agrawal 1967;
Biswas & Ghosh 1968; Sinha 1976a,b, 1978, 1980a,b) did not report any new
occurrence data of P. ceylonicus from the
state. Ghosh (2008), while preparing a catalogue of bats specimens available in
the National Zoological Collection at Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata,
mentioned the distribution of the species in Rajasthan based only on the past
record by Ryley (1914) and without any new collection data.
In view of its widespread
distribution and adaptable nature, IUCN Red List categorized the species as
‘Least Concern’ (LC) (Srinivasulu & Srinivasulu 2019). It is apparently of rare occurrence and
extensive surveys are needed to determine the status of the species in the
state.
Table 1. Morphological, cranial
and dental measurements of Pipistrellus ceylonicus (Kelaart, 1852)
(all measurements are in millimeters)
|
Measurement (mm) |
Bates & Harrison (1997) |
Korad & Yardi (2004) (n=7) |
Present study (n=1) |
1 |
Head and body length (HB) |
45.5 - 64.0 |
46-51.4 |
41.2 |
2 |
Tail length (T) |
30.0 - 45.0 |
29-38.5 |
31 |
3 |
Hind foot length, including
claw (HF) |
6.0 - 11.0 |
6-8.5 |
8.4 |
4 |
Forearm length (FA) |
33.0 - 42.0 |
35-38.2 |
39 |
5 |
Wingspan (WSP) |
227-262 |
227-252 |
243 |
6 |
5th Metacarpal length (5MT) |
30.7 - 36.7 |
33.0-34.5 |
33.7 |
7 |
4th Metacarpal length (4MT) |
32.6 - 38.5 |
34.4-35.8 |
34.8 |
8 |
3rd Metacarpal length (3MT) |
33.0 - 39.0 |
34.5-36.4 |
33.1 |
9 |
Ear length (E) |
9.5 - 14.0 |
9.5-14 |
11.2 |
10 |
Tibia length (Tb) |
NA |
13.5-15.0 |
14.1 |
11 |
Greatest length of skull (GTL) |
14.4 - 15.8 |
13.5-15.5 |
14.9 |
12 |
Condylocanine length (CCL) |
13.1 - 14.3 |
13.0-14.0 |
13.6 |
13 |
Zygomatic breadth (ZB) |
9.2 - 11.0 |
9.0-10.0 |
9.2 |
14 |
Breadth of braincase (BB) |
6.8 - 7.8 |
7.7-8.0 |
7.1 |
15 |
Postorbital constriction (PC) |
3.7-4.3 |
3.8-4.5 |
3.9 |
16 |
Maxillary toothrow length (CM3) |
5.2 - 5.9 |
5.4-6 |
5.8 |
17 |
Mandibular toothrow length (CM3) |
5.7 - 6.5 |
5.6-6.6 |
6.2 |
18 |
Width across third molars (M3-M3) |
6.2 - 7.2 |
6.6-7.8 |
6.8 |
19 |
Mandible length (M) |
10.6 - 12.0 |
10.6-11.6 |
10.9 |
20 |
Width of rostrum (RW) |
5.7-7.1 |
5.5-7.0 |
5.9 |
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