Nyctalus leisleri (Kuhl, 1817)

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 : 50

24. Nyctalus leisleri (Kuhl, 1817)

(Lesser Noctule)

New material: 2 M, 07.06.2017, Narkanda, Shimla District , Himachal Pradesh , V /M/ERS/413, 414; two released individuals from Narkanda, nine released individuals from Ansuya, and one released individual from Kanchula , Chamoli district , Uttarakhand .

Morphological description of specimens: A medium sized species with an average forearm length of 44.7 mm in the measured Himachal specimens. The dorsal pelage was rufous brown with dark hair roots while the ventrum was distinctly lighter brown but also with darker roots. The ears were triangular in profile with a short, curved tragus and dark brown in colour ( Fig. 15G ). The space between ears and eyes were sparsely haired. The interfemoral membrane was also dark brown and hairless. It joined the feet at the base of the digits. There was a prominent calcar lobe. The fifth metacarpal was distinctly shorter than the third and fourth.

In the upper jaw, the first upper premolar was small and slightly intruded so that the canine and the second premolar were almost in contact, a character that is more akin to Ny. montanus than to leisleri ( Bates & Harrison 1997) . However, the first premolar of the lower mandible is similar in size to the second, which is typical of leisleri , not of montanus (op. cit.).

The baculum was thin and long (6.8 mm). The shaft was straight with a slightly enlarged roundish tip while the proximal end enlarged and bifurcated by a deep emergination into two halves. The width at the base was 0.91 mm. In lateral view, the distal and proximal ends were bent to produce a curved appearance ( Fig. 14E ).

DNA: The COI sequence of one specimen from Himachal Pradesh (M 2226 / V /M/ERS/413) was not only very similar (about 1% K2P) to haplotypes from Uttarakhand (GB MN339189 and MN714905 ) or Pakistan (GB MK091913 ), but also to Ny.leisleri sampled in the Western Palaearctic region (e.g., from Switzerland GB OQ706660; Table S2; Fig. 4 ). The same pattern of low genetic divergence was obtained with a sequence of the CYTB from this Himachal individual ( Fig. 6), which proved to be very similar (1.3% K2P) to European samples as well (e.g., GB OQ885404; Table S3). Unfortunately, there are no sequences of Ny. montanus available in public repositories, so its genetic distinctness from Ny. leisleri cannot be evaluated.

Locality records and ecological notes: Uttarakhand: Bajawala (638 m) in Dehradun district; Devalsari (1698 m), Dhanaulti (2114 m) and Maldevta (846 m) in Tehri–Garhwal district; Dogalbita (2370 m) in Rudraprayag district; Mandal (1600–1800 m), Ansuya (2000–2200 m), and Kanchula (2500 m) in Chamoli district; Katarmal (1380 m) in Almora district; Pangot in Nainital district ( Bhat1974; Chakravarty et al. 2020; present study). Himachal Pradesh: Kothi, Kullu district and Narkanda (ca. 2700 m), Shimla district (present study; Bhat et al. 1983; Saikia et al. 2011). In Narkanda, a number of these bats were caught in a mist net set across an artificial waterhole while coming for drinking. Except for two male individuals, all the over 20 captured animals were either pregnant or lactating females which were released. Another 17 animals were also harp trapped and released from a nearby location including 16 pregnant or lactating females which indicate the presence of a maternity colony nearby. In Uttarakhand, these bats were caught flying over open streams or brooks in oak forest ( Chakravarty et al. 2020). In Europe, foraging habit of this species over water bodies like drainage canals, streams and lakes is well documented ( Shiel 2006; Spada et al. 2008).

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 14. Dorsal (D), ventral (V) and lateral (L) profile of bacula of some bat species from the study area. A) Rh. macrotis (D, V, L, ZSI–NERC V/M/ERS/564), B) Rh. lepidus (D, V, L, ZSI–NERC V/M/ERS/449), C) Rh. nippon (D, V, ZSI–NERC V/M/ERS/402), D) My. himalaicus sp. nov. (D, ZSI–NERC V/M/ERS/653), E) Ny. leisleri (D, L, ZSI–NERC V/M/ERS/413), F) Hy. affinis (D, L, ZSI–NERC V/M/ERS/638), G) My. longipes (D, ZSI–NERC V/M/ERS/ 438), H) My. blythii (D, L, ZSI– NERC V/M/ERS/405), I) Mu. huttonii (D, V, ZSI–NERC V/M/ERS/ 443). Note, bacula B, D and I are partially damaged.

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).