Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 June 2024 | 16(6): 25422–25432

ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)

https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8854.16.6.25422-25432

#8854 | Received 24 November 2023 | Final received 16 April 2024 | Finally accepted 10 June 2024

A preliminary assessment of the bat fauna (Mammalia: Chiroptera) of Murlen National Park, Mizoram, India: distribution, morphology, and echolocation

Uttam Saikia ¹ & Rohit Chakravarty ²

¹ Zoological Survey of India, North Eastern Regional Centre, Risa Colony, Shillong, Meghalaya 793003, India.

² Nature Conservation Foundation, 1311, “Amritha”. 12th Main. Vijayanagar 1st Stage, Mysore, Karnataka 570017, India.

² Bat Conservation International, 500 N Capital of TX Hwy, Bldg. 1, Suite 175, Austin, Texas, 78746 USA.

¹ uttamzsi@gmail.com (corresponding author), ² rohitchakravarty@ncf-india.org

Editor: H. Raghuram, Sri. S. Ramasamy Naidu Memorial College (Autonomous), Sattur, Virudhunagar, India. Date of publication: 26 June 2024 (online & print)

Citation: Saikia, U. & R. Chakravarty (2024). A preliminary assessment of the bat fauna (Mammalia: Chiroptera) of Murlen National Park, Mizoram, India: distribution, morphology, and echolocation. Journal of Threatened Taxa 16(6): 25422–25432. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8854.16.6.25422-25432

Copyright: © Saikia & Chakravarty 2024. 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: Field surveys and laboratory work for the study was financially supported by Zoological Survey of India.

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Author details: Uttam Saikia is working as a scientist in the North Eastern Regional Centre of Zoological Survey of India, Shillong. His current research interest lies in diversity and systematics of the bat fauna of India especially in the Himalayan region. Rohit Chakravarty is a project manager (High Altitude) with Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysore and also affiliated with Bat Conservation International, Austin. He is currently leading several projects on the effects of urbanization and wind energy on bats, mitigating bat-human conflict in archaeological sites. He is also initiating development of a conservation plan for Indian bats

Author contributions: US conducted the field surveys, identified the specimens and wrote the first draft. RC analyzed the echolocation calls, provided inputs to the text and helped finalizing the manuscript.

Acknowledgements: The first author expresses his gratitude to Dr. Dhriti Banerjee, director, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata for institutional support. Survey permission from the chief wildlife warden, Govt of Mizoram is gratefully acknowledged. Logistic helps and co-operation offered by officials of the Mizoram Forest Department especially Smt. Jenny Sailo, former divisional forest officer, Khawzawl Wildlife Division, and Sh. Samson Thanruma, divisional forest officer, Khawzawl Wildlife Division, beat officers of Vapar and Murlen beats and their staff members is greatly appreciated. Field assistances provided by Sh. Amit Kumar Bal, research scholar, Mizoram University and staff of ZSI Shillong, and an anonymous field guide are greatly appreciated. Dr. Gabor Csorba and Dr. Manuel Ruedi are thanked for their comments on identity of certain species.

Abstract: As part of a faunal documentation work in Murlen National Park in Mizoram, two field surveys were conducted in the park area and its immediate periphery which resulted in capture of 39 individuals of bats. Based on these captures and a previous published record, 14 bat species belonging to nine genera and three families were recorded from the study area. Despite lesser sampling coverage and shorter duration of the surveys, uncommon and little-known species like Arielulus circumdatus, Kerivoula cf. hardwickii, Myotis annectans, Myotis montivagus, and Mirostrellus joffrei were recorded, thereby highlighting the rich assemblage of chiropteran fauna and also the need for effective protection of the area. Based on the collected samples, five species—Rhinolophus affinis, R. perniger, Myotis annectans, Pipistrellus javanicus, and Mirostrellus joffrei—are first recorded from Mizoram state. The echolocation call structures of four of the recorded species from the study area are also presented. We have also provided an updated checklist of the bat fauna of Mizoram state comprising 35 species of five families.

Keywords: Bat diversity, checklist, inventory, new records, northeastern India, protected area.

INTRODUCTION

Murlen National Park is one of the ten protected areas in Mizoram and is the second National Park in the state. Encompassing diverse vegetation from tropical, semi evergreen to sub-montane forest, the Park has a relatively pristine ecology. Considering its contiguity with Kachin Hills in Myanmar and relatively intact nature of forest, the area has the potential to harbor a rich assemblage of fauna including a high diversity of mammals (Saikia & Bal in press). However, information on faunal diversity of the Park is scanty except for a select group of vertebrates (Kaul et al. 2001; Mandal et al. 2007; Saikia et al. 2021; Bal et al. 2022a,b; Bal & Giordono 2022; Lalramsanga et al. 2022). Bats are one of the least known mammalian groups from Mizoram with only 29 authentically recorded species (Dobson 1874; Bates & Harriosn 1997; Mandal et al. 2007) and information on the bat diversity from protected areas of the state are nearly nonexistent. The only report on the bat fauna of any protected area of Mizoram pertains to Lengteng Wildlife Sanctuary, wherein nine species of bats were reported (Vanlalnghaka 2013). However, considering the inclusion of extralimital species like Rousettus aegyptiacus and Rhinolophus hipposideros and lack of taxonomic rigor of that study, the identity of several recorded species remains to be verified. In order to fill the biodiversity information gap and consequently to help the Park authorities with better management plan of the resources, a series of faunal surveys were initiated by the North Eastern Regional Centre (NERC) of Zoological Survey of India, Shillong. As part of this survey, the first author conducted sampling in the Park and its immediate surroundings during October 2018 and March 2022. Based on the collected specimens from the aforementioned surveys and record of a single species in Mandal et al. (2007), a preliminary assessment of bat diversity in Murlen National Park and its environ has been presented. Additionally, we provide the echolocation call structures of free flying individuals of four of the recorded species from the study area. An updated checklist of the bat fauna of Mizoram comprising 35 species of five families is also provided.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Study area

Murlen National Park is located in Champhai district of Mizoram state in India adjacent to the Chin Hills of Myanmar. The Park encompasses an area of 100 km² spreading between 23.53–23.70 N and 92.21–92.45 E (Environment, Forest and Climate Change Department, Govt of Mizoram 2017) (Image 1). It was declared as National Park vide notification No.B.12012/5/99-FST dated 24 January 2003. The Park area spreads over a significant elevation range from 400–1,900 m. Vegetation is tropical, semi-evergreen and sub montane forests dominated by Quercus sp., Schima wallichai, Betula sp., Michelia champaca, Pinus kesiya, Prunus sp., Myrica sp., Rhododendron sp., Saccharum sp., and varieties of orchids (Kumar et al. 2018).

Field sampling and species identification

Field samplings in the National Park area and its immediate surroundings were conducted in October–November 2018 and March 2022. Bats were trapped at several localities in the immediate periphery of the Park, i.e., Murlen village and adjacent agricultural areas (23.64561 ⁰N, 93.296179 ⁰E, 1,580 m; 23.66166 ⁰N, 93.28333 ⁰E, 1,345 m) and along the Vapar–Murlen road (23.66403 ⁰N, 93.29623 ⁰E, 1,430 m) and a Forest Camp (Tuikual Duty Post) in the Park area (23.64464 ⁰N, 93.29786 ⁰E, 1,640 m) (Image 1). Mist nets (6 x 2.5 m and mesh size 16 x 16 mm, Ecotone Poland) and one two bank harp trap (Austbat, Australia) were deployed. Mist nets were set near water holes, across streams especially during the dry period of March 2022 and kept open for about three hours after sunset (Image 2). The harp trap was set across possible flight paths inside forest and forest openings and placed overnight. A total of nine nights of bat trapping were conducted. Thirty-nine individuals of bats were captured. Almost all the bats were captured in mist nets except for one individual of Kerivoula cf. hardwickii and two Rhinolophus affinis. Fifteen of those individuals were retained as vouchers and rest were released at the capture sites. No visibly pregnant or lactating females were retained as vouchers. Captured animals were handled following standard methods in mammalogy (Sikes & Animal Care and Use Committee of the American Society of Mammalogists 2016) and vouchers were deposited into the North Eastern Regional Centre of Zoological Survey of India, Shillong for further investigations.

The acronyms for measurements are: Ear length (E); Tragus length (TR); Hindfoot length, including claw (HF c.u.); Forearm length (FA); Tibia length (TB); 3rd metacarpal length (3MT); 4^th metacarpal length (4MT); 5^th metacarpal length (5MT); Greatest length of skull including incisors (GTLi); Condylocanine length (CCL); Maxillary toothrow length (CM³); Width across third molars (M³M³); Width across canines (C¹C¹); Zygomatic breadth (ZB); Postorbital constriction (POC); Breadth of braincase (BB); Mastoid breadth (MAB); Length of mandible including incisors (MLi); Mandibular toothrow length (CM₃); Coronoid height (COH). These measurements generally follow definitions by Bates & Harrison (1997).

Echolocation call analysis

The ultrasonic calls at the sampling site were recorded with an Anabat Walkabout detector (Titley Scientific, Brendale, Australia). As the primary purpose of the survey was to document and provide unambiguous identification of species through specimens, we recorded calls by placing the bat detector in front of the nets. Calls recorded before captures were attributed to that particular individual. Although this method is prone to ambiguity in call identification and attribution, the benefit is that the calls recorded were more representative of search phase calls. Calls that are recorded upon release (the standard protocol) are rarely representative of search phase calls rendering them less useful for acoustic identification of bats recorded in free flight.

The recordings were carried at a sampling rate of 500 KHz and analyzed using Raven Pro 1.5.0 (Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, USA). From up to 15 pulses that appeared to represent search phase calls (with short terminal narrowband FM tails), we measured start frequency (high frequency, SF), end frequency (low frequency, EF), peak frequency (PF), bandwidth (BW) and duration (D) from a spectrogram of FFT size 1024 with 95% overlap and a Hanning window. For rhinolophid bats, the measurements were extracted from the second harmonic, whereas for all other species, the first harmonic pulses were measured.

The checklist

The updated checklist of the bat fauna of Mizoram state is based on all published records till October 2023. The locality records mentioned are essentially based on Bates & Harrison (1997) and Mandal et al. (2007) updated with any succeeding publications. The chiropteran collection at NERC, Shillong is also examined and included wherever applicable. Only those published records authenticated by vouchers are taken into consideration.

RESULTS

Thirteen bat species belonging to three families were recorded from inside the Park and its immediate surroundings. Photos of the species are in Images 3 & 4, and their morphological and anatomical measurements are provided in Tables 1 & 2, respectively. The echolocation call parameters of four species, viz., Rhinolophus affinis, Mirostrellus joffrei, Myotis annectans and Myotis montivagus have been provided in Table 3.

We have also provided a consolidated checklist of bats of Mizoram in Appendix 1.

Systematic accounts

Order: Chiroptera

Family: Pteropodidae

1. Eonycteris spelaea (Dobson, 1871)

(Dawn Bat)

Material examined: 1♂, V/M/ERS/532 (Figure 3A), 3♀(released), 09.xi.2018, along Vapar-Murlen Road (1,662 m), Champhai district, Mizoram.

Remarks: The individuals were caught in a mist net set across a forest opening in the early evening hours possibly en route to foraging places.

Family: Rhinolophidae

2. Rhinolophus affinis Horsfield, 1823

(Intermediate Horseshoe Bat)

Material examined: 2♂, V/M/ERS/702 (Figure 3B),703, 18.iii.2022, near Bear Lodge (1587 m), Murlen National Park.

Echolocation call: The average echolocation call peak frequency was recorded at 88.79 kHz (Table 3; Image 5) which is similar to that recorded in western Himalaya (88 kHz, Chakravarty et al. 2020) and southeastern China (Jiang et al. 2008).

Remarks: First report of this species from Mizoram state. Apparently widespread in the area as call signatures matching the above described structure were recorded in several other places in the periphery of the Park.

3. Rhinolophus rouxii Temminck, 1835

(Rufous Horseshoe Bat)

Material examined: 3ό, V/M/ERS/533, 534, 542, 08–09.xi.2018, along Vapar-Murlen Road (1,463 m), Champhai district, Mizoram.

Remarks Several Rhinolophus rouxii individuals were also caught at the same location where Eonycteris spelaea were caught.

4. Rhinolophus perniger Hodgson, 1843

(Northern Wooly Horseshoe Bat)

Material examined: 1ϙ, V/M/ERS/706 (Figure 3C), 18.iii.2022, near Bear Lodge (1,587 m), adjacent to Murlen National Park, Champhai district, Mizoram.

Remarks: The specimen was caught in a mist net set around an abandoned forest house. The current record constitutes the first mention of this species from Mizoram.

Family: Vespertilionidae

5. Arielulus circumdatus (Temminck, 1840)

(Bronze sprite)

Material examined: 2ϙ, V/M/ERS/685 (Figure 3D), 699, 19.iii.2022 & 21.iii.2022, Jhum field near Murlen village (1,490 m), Champhai district, Mizoram.

Remarks: Individuals were caught in mist nets while coming to drink around an artificial water source.

6. Barbastella darjelingensis (Hodgson, 1855)

(Eastern Barbastlle)

Material examined: 1ϙ, V/M/ERS/698 (Figure 3E), 18.iii.2022, near Bear Lodge (1,587 m), Murlen National Park.

Remarks: Caught in a mist net set across an open space surrounded by trees.

7. Kerivoula cf. hardwickii (Horsfeild, 1824)

Material examined: 1ϙ, V/M/ERS/698 (Figure 3F), 18.iii.2022, near Bear Lodge (1,587 m), Murlen National Park

Remarks: The specimen was caught in a harp trap set across a narrow forest trail dominated by bamboo. Our specimen apparently belongs to the K. hardwickii complex and actual identity of the specimen is still under investigation.

8. Mirostrellus joffrei (Thomas, 1915)

(Joffre’s Pipistrelle)

Material examined: 2ϙ, V/M/ERS/684, 687 (Figure 4G), 19.iii.2022 & 23.iii.2022, Jhum field at Murlen village (1,345 m), Champhai district, Mizoram

Remarks: An IUCN Data Deficient species, this is the first record of this bat from Mizoram. Recently reported from Manipur (Saikia & Meetei 2022) indicating a broader distribution and relatively common occurrence than previously thought

Echolocation: Relatively narrowband (27–45 kHz) FM-QCF calls were recorded with an average peak frequency of 29.78 kHz (Table 3; Image 5). The calls were similar to those reported from western Himalaya (Chakravarty et al. 2020) and northern Vietnam (Görföl et al. 2020).

9. Myotis annectans Dobson, 1871

(Hairy-faced Bat)

Material examined: 1ϙ, V/M/ERS/686 (Figure 4H), 19.03.2022, Jhum field at Murlen village (1345 m), Champhai district, Mizoram

Echolocation calls: The calls were relatively broadband (32–68 kHz), relatively long (7.2 ms), largely FM but with a short QCF ending, typical of some Himalayan and Southeast Asian myotids (for example, Myotis siligorensis, Surlykke et al. 1993). End frequency (EF) which is less variable than peak frequency in Myotis spp. was recorded at an average of 32.27 kHz (Table 3; Image 5), which is lower than that recorded in western Himalayas (36.22 kHz, Chakravarty et al. 2020) and Cambodia (38 kHz, Sophany et al. 2013). However, the western Himalayan specimens are likely to be revised to M. sicarius (Görföl et al. in prep). Nonethless, the differences in call frequencies are likely due to the different recording scenarios. The calls recorded in western Himalaya and Cambodia come from hand-released bats while our calls were recorded in free flight.

Remarks: This is the first report of this species from Mizoram and recently been reported from neighboring Manipur (Saikia & Meetei 2022).

10. Myotis montivagus (Dobson, 1874)

(Burmese-whiskered Myotis)

Material examined: 1ό, 1ϙ, V/M/ERS/697 (Fig 4I), 704, 20.iii.2022, near Murlen village, Vapar-Murlen road (1,480 m), Champhai district, Mizoram

Remarks: A globally Data Deficient species, this bat was reported only from Mizoram state in India thus far. A possible specimen of this species has been recorded recently from Siju cave in Meghalaya (Kharkongor et al. 2024)

Echolocation: Short duration (2.6 ms), broadband calls (43–95 kHz) calls were recorded with a mean peak frequency of 51 kHz (Table 3; Image 5). The calls presented here are the first recordings of this species from India and are similar in structure and frequencies to closely related M. peytoni from the Western Ghats (Wordley et al. 2014; Raman et al. 2020)

11. Myotis muricola (Gray, 1846)

(Nepalese Whiskered Myotis)

Material examined: 1ό, V/M/ERS/709 (Fig 4J), 23.iii.2022, Jhum field at Murlen village (1,345 m), Champhai district, Mizoram.

12. Pipistrellus javanicus Gray, 1838

(Java Pipistrelle)

Material examined: 1ό, V/M/ERS/705 (Fig 4K), 22.iii.2022, near Murlen village, Vapar-Murlen road (1,480 m), Champhai district, Mizoram

Remarks: The individual was caught in a mist net near an artificial water source. A few other non-reproductive females were also caught at the same spot and were released. This is the first record of this species from Mizoram.

13. Tylonycteris malayana Chasen, 1840

(Malayan Bamboo Bat)

Material examined: 1ϙ, V/M/ERS/701 (Fig 4L) 23.iii.2022, Jhum field at Murlen village (1,345 m), Champhai district, Mizoram

Remarks: Also caught in mist nest around a water hole.

DISCUSSION

Water is a critical resource for wildlife. During the drier period of January–April, most of the water sources in Murlen National Park and its surroundings dry out except for scattered water puddles in the streambeds. The villagers also construct some ponds in the Jhum fields for irrigation and fishery purposes. These water sources attract a number of bat species offering excellent opportunity of studying bats. In spite of our limited area coverage and short study period, we could record 12 species of bats in three families out of which five namely Rhinolophus affinis, R. perniger, Myotis annectans, Pipistrellus javanicus and Mirostrellus joffrei are new additions to the state of Mizoram. Sphaerias blanfordi was already reported from the Park (Mandal et al. 2007) indicating a very diverse bat community in the study area. Among the presently recorded species, Mirostrellus joffrei was considered as a rare species and only represented by a few museum specimens until recent times. The IUCN Red List still considers it as a ‘Data Deficient’ species (Görföl et al. 2016). However, after its discovery from Meghalaya, Sikkim, and from Nepal (Saikia et al. 2017), it was subsequently reported from Uttarakhand (Chakravarty et al. 2020) and Manipur (Saikia & Meetei 2022). The current record from Murlen further underscores the fact that this bat is more widely distributed in the Himalayan region and in the southeastern Asia. Another little-known species recorded in the study area is Myotis montivagus which is also currently recognized as ‘Data Deficient’ by the IUCN Red List (Görföl 2020). Primarily known from scattered records from southern China, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Laos, this species is thus far definitively known only from a few localities of Mizoram in India. We characterize the echolocation call structure of free flying individual of this species from the area. It may be noted that another two species with taxonomic ambiguity, e.g., Hipposideros cf. larvatus and Kerivoula cf. hardwickii have also been recorded from Mizoram during the aforementioned surveys. However, the taxonomic status of H. larvatus s.l. in northeastern India is uncertain (Thabah et al. 2006) and a thorough integrative taxonomic reassessment is required. Similarly, the identity of Kerivoula specimen from Murlen NP also needs careful investigations as apparently it belongs to the cryptic K. hardwickii complex. As a derivative of the study, we also recorded the bat echolocation calls at our sampling sites although it was not meant for an echolocation call library. Even though a large number of calls were recorded in each sampling sites, due to difficulty in attributing a particular call to a free flying species, we provided the call structure details of only four species which we could attribute with a fair degree of certainty. Standardizing the recording protocols to obtain the “most natural” search phase calls remains another avenue of future research.

Table 1. Morphological data of the measured bat specimens from Murlen NP and it’s environ.

Species	HF	TB	FA	E	TR	3MT	4MT	5MT	No. of examples measured
Eonycteris spelaea	15.2–20.1 (17.3)	29.8–34.5 (32.6)	65.1–74.7 (70.8)	16.7–18.4 (17.5)	-	-	-	-	4
Rhinolophus affinis	11.2, 12	23.4, 24.2	53.0, 53.5	15.4, 16.8	-	39.8, 40.4	41.5, 42.4	42.9, 43.7	2
R. perniger	17.9	69.4	37.6	36.5	-	48.2	56.3	57	1
R. rouxii	11.0, 11.7	23.3, 23.8	52.9, 53.4	17.9, 18.4	-	39.8, 41	41.8, 42.6	43.0, 43.9	2
Arielulus circumdatus	8.6, 9.1	16.5, 17.5	39.4, 39.9	10.6, 11.0	4.6, 5.2	37.6, 38.9	36.3, 37.8	35.1, 35.6	2
Barbastella darjelingensis	8.1	19.3	40.0	13.5	6.1	41.1	38.8	37.2	1
Kerivoula sp.	8.0	16.2	34.8	12.5	6.4	37.0	36.5	34.9	1
Mirostrellus joffrei	7.6, 8.7	14.7, 16.7	36.7, 38.4	11.5	3.6, 4.3	37.0, 39.4	36.8, 38.0	32.2, 34.6	2
Myotis annectans	8.3	19.3	44.25	13.1	6.0	42.3	40.9	39.7	1
M. montivagus	8.7, 9.0	15.9, 17.4	39.4, 40.2	12.1, 12.9	6.3, 6.9	37.8	36.6	35.8	2
M. muricloa	8.9	17.5	35.0	11.3	5.4	32.8	32.0	31.4	1
Pipistrellus javanicus	6.9	13.5	32.4	10.2	4.8	32.2	32.4	31.7	1
Tylonycteris malayana	6.4	13.0	30.5	10.5	3.5	28.9	28.3	27.2	1

Table 2. Craniodental measurements of some of the species recorded from the study area.

Species	GTLi	CCL	ZW	BW	POC	CM^3	C^1-C^1	M^3-M^3	MAB	MLi	CM3	COH	No. of exs.
Arielulus circumdatus	15.45	14.78	11.05	8.12	4.43	5.84	4.83	7.14	8.80	11.94	6.12	3.85	1
Barbastella darjelingensis	15.0	13.55	7.53	7.26	3.87	4.70	3.42	5.28	8.32	9.61	5.12	2.68	1
Kerivoula cf. hardwickii	14.25	12.77	8.72	7.24	3.32	5.50	3.57	5.40	7.52	10.25	5.90	3.17	1
Mirostrellus joffrei	14.90	14.12	10.82	7.73	4.58	5.08	5.16	7.43	8.68	10.74	5.68	4.00	1
Myotis annectans	16.88	16.68	11.63	7.80	4.33	6.93	4.63	7.55	8.67	12.27	7.21	4.55	1
M. montivagus	15.51	14.28	10.82	7.36	4.10	6.25	4.22	7.17	7.60	11.90	6.55	4.00	1
M. muricloa	13.37	12.82	-	6.68	3.60	4.90	2.86	5.82	7.12	9.67	5.40	2.85	1
Pipistrellus javanicus	12.46	11.37	7.80	5.92	3.28	4.48	4.26	5.67	6.64	8.46	4.87	2.75	1
Tylonycteris malayana	13.66	11.84	9.34	7.16	4.76	4.17	4.25	5.60	7.66	9.25	4.27	2.66	1

Table 3. Echolocation calls measurements of the species whose calls were definitively recorded. All measurements are given as mean ± standard deviation.

Species	No. of pulses	Start frequency (SF, kHz)	End frequency (EF, kHz)	Peak frequency (PF, kHz)	Bandwidth (kHz)	Duration (ms)
Rhinolophus affinis	15	90.15 ± 0.42	70.28 ± 3.06	88.79 ± 0.2	-	46.08 ± 5.2
Mirostrellus joffrei	15	45.07 ± 5.36	27.61 ± 0.27	29.78 ± 0.48	17.45 ± 5.35	9.08 ± 0.93
Myotis annectans	15	68.69 ± 7.79	32.27 ± 1.10	35.74 ± 2.02	36.41 ± 6.97	7.24 ± 1.96
Myotis montivagus	9	95.01 ± 4.52	43.23 ± 1.01	50.1 ± 3.12	51.78 ± 5.08	2.6 ± 0.26

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