Myotis muricola (Gray, 1864)

Saikia, Uttam, Chakravarty, Rohit, Csorba, Gabor, Laskar, Mostaque Ahmed & Ruedi, Manuel, 2025, Taxonomic reassessment of bats from the Western Himalayas, India and description of a new species of the Myotis frater complex (Mammalia, Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae), Zootaxa 5644 (1), pp. 1-78 : 43-44

19. Myotis muricola (Gray, 1864)

(Nepalese Whiskered Bat)

New material: Two released males caught at Chopta, Chamoli district , Uttarakhand, April 2018 and April 2019 .

Morphological description of specimens: Two adult males were caught over a brook at the edge of a meadow in Chopta (2800 m). They were provisionally identified by their small size ( FA = 36.3–37.7 mm), sooty black dorsal pelage and dark ventral pelage with silvery tips. The ears were slightly elongated with a rounded tip but without a prominent notch on the posterior margin and also lacking the projected arched lobe near the base of the ear that are characteristics of Su. caliginosus with which the species was often mistaken ( Ruedi et al. 2021). Tragus was straight, slightly bent forward, but not spatulated as in Su. caliginosus (compare Figs 15D and 15F ). Hind feet were small (in comparison to tibia) and the wing attached to the base of the toe.

DNA: no biological material was obtained from this species.

Locality records and ecological notes: Uttarakhand: Ansuya (2000 m), Chopta (2800 m) and Mandal (1600 m) in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand ( Chakravarty et al. 2020; present study). The record from Chirot (Thirot) in Lahaul & Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh ( Lindsay 1927) and included as “ My. mystacinus ” in Bates & Harrison (1997) might either represent this species or other taxa (see below).

We recorded broadband (bandwidth= 66.37 kHz), short–duration (3 ms) echolocation calls with end frequency of 43.37 kHz. Passive recordings of free–flying bats in the site of capture show similar call characteristics but with longer duration and prominent QCF components (R. Chakravarty unpublished data).

Taxonomic notes: A constituent species of the My. mystacinus morphogroup, the taxonomic status of My. muricola in the Western Himalayas was obscure till recently. The species was believed to be widely distributed in the Oriental Region with a large number of taxa included in its synonymy ( Bates & Harrison 1997; Srinivasulu & Srinivasulu 2019c). However, more recently it has been shown that at least in the Western Himalaya, My. muricola was confused with other similar looking but distinct species, My. nipalensis and Su. caliginosus ( Ruedi et al. 2021) . All three species were found to occur in sympatry, but the latter one appeared to be more common and widespread.

Figures

FIGURE 15. Portraits of A) My. blythii (ZSI–NERC V/M/ERS/405), B) My. longipes (ZSI–NERC V/M/ERS/441), C) My. nipalensis (ZSI–NERC V/M/ERS/445), D) My. muricola (released animal), E) My. sicarius (released animal), F) Su. caliginosus (ZSI–NERC V/M/ERS/417), G) Ny. leisleri (ZSI–NERC V/M/ERS/413), and H) Pl. wardi (ZSI–NERC V/M/ERS/415). Inset: Direct comparison of thumb length between Pl. wardi (ZSIS–NERC V/M/ERS/658, left) and Pl. homochrous (ZSIS–NERC V/M/ERS/654, right).