Myotis nipalensis ( Dobson, 1871 )

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 : 44

20. Myotis nipalensis ( Dobson, 1871)

( Nepal Myotis )

New material: 1 M, 30.05.2017, over river Narag, Devthal, Solan district , Himachal Pradesh V /M/ERS/445 .

Morphological description of specimen: An adult male was caught with a flap–net. This specimen had a walnut brown dorsum, and the ventral fur was grayish white ( Fig. 15C ). Dorsal hairs had a dark base and slightly lighter tip while the ventral hairs had light brown roots and whitish tips. The ears and patagium were dark brown. The ears were relatively long and with a broadly rounded tip, but devoid of notch at the rear edge. The tragus was slightly less than half the length of ear, almost straight on the inner side and convex on the outer margin. The thumb was long and slender with sharp claws. No visible calcar lobe was present, and the wing attached to the base of the toes.

Condylocanine length of our specimen measured 11.98 mm; the skull had a bulbous braincase with elevated rostrum compared to more flattened skull profile in My. muricola ( Ruedi et al. 2021) . The incisors were bicuspidate. The canine exceeded the height of the third upper premolar although not greatly. The anterior upper premolars lie within the toothrow contrary to the intruded second upper premolar in My. muricola (examined specimens from northeastern India).

DNA: The COI (GB MW054918 ) and CYTB (GB MW054881 ) sequences of this specimen were already reported in Ruedi et al. (2021) and showed closest genetic similarities with My. annatessae from Southeast Asia ( Figs 4 and 6), but not with My. muricola or My. mystacinus with which My. nipalensis had often been confused (e.g. Kruskop et al. 2012).

Locality records and ecological notes: Uttarakhand: Pawalgarh (495 m) in Nainital district ( Chakravarty et al. 2020). Himachal Pradesh: Devthal (963 m) in Solan district (present study). Because of the confusing taxonomic situation of My. nipalensis in classical accounts (e.g., Ellerman & Morrison–Scott 1966; Corbet & Hill 1992; Bates & Harrison 1997), the exact distribution of this Himalayan species is not precisely known ( Ruedi et al. 2021). The adult male was caught with a flap–net while foraging over the river Narang in the early evening.

Taxonomic notes: The taxonomy of My. nipalensis has been much discussed since its description from Nepal by Dobson in 1871. It was variously included in the synonymy of My. mystacinus , My. muricola or more recently within My. siligorensis or My. davidii (see review in Ruedi et al. 2021). However, obvious external (e.g., strongly contrasting whitish ventral fur; unnotched ears), cranial (e.g., globose braincase) and genetic differences support species status for this distinctive bat (op. cit.).

Figures

FIGURE 4: Neighbor-joining tree reconstruction of examined vespertilionids, miniopterids and molossids COI sequences and based on the K2P matrix in Table S2. Branches are proportional to the number of mutational steps. Sequence names are composed of the first two letters of the genus, followed by the species name, the GenBank number (or field number for newly sequenced samples), and the region of origin. Samples from India are highlighted in bold face.

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).