461.

Kashmir Cave Myotis

Myotis longipes

French: Murin du Cachemire / German: KaschmirLangfuRfledermaus / Spanish: Ratonero de Cachemira

Other common names: Kashmir Cave Bat

Taxonomy. Vespertilio longipes Dobson, 1873,

“caves of Bhima Devi, in Kashmir [India], at an elevation of 6000 feet [= 1829 m].”

Subgenus Myotis; siligorensis species group. See M. csorbai . G. E. Dobson in 1872 first described this species using the preoccupied name macropus and provided the complete type locality given here; when he realized his error, he renamed the species longipes in 1873 and only mentioned “Kashmir” as the collection area. Myotis longipes appears to be restricted to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and north-western India; M. csorbai might be more widely distributed in Meghalaya, southern China, and central Laos but is restricted to Nepal until other specimens can be assessed to confirm their identity as being M. longipes, M. csorbai, or an entirely new species. Monotypic.

Distribution. Only definitely from NE Afghanistan, N Pakistan, and NW India (Jammu and Kashmir).

Descriptive notes. Head-body 43-46 mm, tail 37-42 mm, ear 10- 6-15 mm, hindfoot 9-2-9- 7 mm, forearm 36- 5-39 mm. Fur of the Kashmir Cave Myotis is dense and soft. Dorsal hairs are grayish brown, with tips paler than bases; venter hairs are creamy white, with dark brown or black bases and creamy white tips. Ears are relatively tall and narrow, with narrow tips; evenly convex anterior margins without basal notches; and shallowly concave above and convex below on posterior border; tragusis tall at ¢.50% of ear length and narrow and tapers toward pointed tip. Face is hairy, except around eyes and nostrils. Hindfeet are large, with toes making up more than 50% their length. Wings are attached to bases offirst toes. Skull is small and robust; braincase is bulbous; forehead regionis steeply sloped; sagittal and lambdoidal crests are barely evident; C! is very weak; P? and P? are minute, with P3 being smaller (one-half to two-thirds the crown area of P?) and slightly intruded from tooth row; C, is very small at two-thirds the crown area and height of P; P, and P, are greatly reduced, and P, is one-halfthe crown area of P,, both in the tooth row; and upper and lower molarsare relatively large compared with canines and premolars.

Habitat. Primary and secondary forests at elevations up to ¢. 2000 m.

Food and Feeding. Kashmir Cave Myotis reportedly fed over an irrigation channel near their subterranean canal roost.

Breeding. Pregnant and lactating Kashmir Cave Myotis were caught in early July in Kashmir and Afghanistan, suggesting young were born in June.

Activity patterns. Kashmir Cave Myotis reportedly roost in caves, cracks, crevices, buildings, tunnels, subterranean canals, and tree cavities. In Pakistan, they roosted in tree cavities c. 2-7 cm in diameter, 3-20 m aboveground, and less than 90 cm deep in Pinus wallichiana ( Pinaceae). They apparently leave their roosts early at night to forage in Afghanistan.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. Kashmir Cave Myotis reportedly roost in colonies with ¢.2000 individuals in a subterranean canal in Afghanistan in summer and ¢.5000 individuals in a cave in Kashmir. When roosting in the canal, they hung in several large clusters and shared it with ¢.200 Schreibers’s Long-fingered Bat ( Miniopterus schreibersiz).

Status and Conservation. Classified as Data Deficient on The IUCN Red List. The Kashmir Cave Myotis is likely threatened by habitat loss and roost disturbance from ongoing conflict throughout its distribution. Nevertheless, distribution is still uncertain, and it might have a wider distribution than is currently recognized. Ecology and threats are also not well studied.

Bibliography. Bates & Harrison (1997), Benda & Gaisler (2015), Borisenko, Kruskop & Ivanova (2008), Dobson (1872, 1873), Hanak & Gaisler (1969), Hussain et al. (2013), Kruskop (2016b), Kruskop &Tsytsulina (2001), Ruedi et al. (2015), Sinha (1994), Wang Yingxiang (2003).