Myotis longipes Dobson, 1873

21. Myotis longipes Dobson, 1873 View in CoL

(Kashmir Cave Myotis )

New material: 2 M, 01.06.2017, Salogra cave, Solan District , Himachal Pradesh, V /M/ERS/ 438, 439; 1 M, 1 F , 01.06.2017, Saproon cave, Solan District , Himachal Pradesh, V /M/ERS/ 440, 441; 1 M , 03.06.2017, Temple cave Karol, Solan district , Himachal Pradesh, V /M/ERS/ 442 .

Morphological description of specimens: A number of individuals of this small Myotis ( FA 36.6–37.2 mm) were caught in three different caves of Solan district. The overall pelage appeared brownish dorsally and buff coloured verntrally ( Fig. 15B View FIGURE 15 ). Dorsal hair basis were darker brown while the tips were light brown. Muzzle, ears, and wing membranes were dark brown. Ears were tall, narrow and pointed with a straight and pointed tragus, little less than half of pinna length. Feet were comparatively large at 8.5 mm and covered with scattered hairs. The wings joined to the base of metatarsus, not to the base of toes as in other small Myotinae from the area. The skull had a maximum length of 14 mm, and the bulbous braincase was distinctly elevated from the flat rostrum. Teeth were weak, especially canines which barely exceeded the height of third premolars ( Fig. 20A View FIGURE 20 ).

The baculum was minute with a length of 0.32 mm and width of 0.12 mm at the base. It had a pointed tip which gradually widened proximally for about 0.15 mm and then markedly so for the rest of its length to form a triangular shape. The base was arched ( Fig. 14G View FIGURE 14 ).

DNA: The COI (GB MW054907 View Materials and MW054908 View Materials ) and CYTB (GB MW054878 View Materials and MW054879 View Materials ) sequences of two specimens from Himachal Pradesh (M 2210/ V /M/ERS/440 and M 2219/ V /M/ERS/442) were already reported in Ruedi et al. (2021). Genetic comparisons showed that they were nearly identical to topotypic material of My. longipes from Kashmir or to the paratypes of My. csorbai from Nepal, indicating that all these sequences represent a well supported clade of a single species. They were, however, distinct from My. laniger .

Locality records and ecological notes: Uttarakhand: Benog WLS (1755 m) and Woodstock School (1787 m), Dehradun district and Mandal (1530 m), Chamoli district. Himachal Pradesh:Cave at Mount Karol (1980 m); Saproon (1550 m) and Salogra (1440 m), Solan district (present study). Saikia et al. (2011) reported “ My. mystacinus ” from these localities in Himachal Pradesh, but the referred specimens were re–identified as My. longipes ( Ruedi et al. 2021) . All Himachal Pradesh specimens were collected from day roosts inside caves which were also being shared with other species. In two of these caves, the colony size was estimated to exceed over 500 individuals whereas in Karol temple cave, there were smaller numbers intermixed with Rh. sinicus and Rh. lepidus . Some of the females were carrying pups. In Uttarakhand, this bat was caught in mist nets while trawling over stream or brooks in oak forest ( Chakravarty et al. 2020).

Taxonomic notes: Morphologically, My. longipes and My. laniger are very similar large–footed bats and were often associated to other trawling Myotis such as the European My. capaccinii or My. daubentonii in early accounts (Ellerman & Morrison–Scott 1966; Corbet & Hill 1990). Topál (1997) clarified the situation based on careful comparisons with topotypical material of all these species and showed that all were externally similar but cranially distinct. This morphological resemblance, however, resulted in erroneous reporting of My. longipes in northeastern India ( Bates & Harrison 1997; Sinha 1994; Ruedi et al. 2012; Saikia et al. 2018) or further east throughout China ( Liu et al. 2023). To clarify this issue further, we critically examined the recent specimens of “ My. longipes ” ( =laniger ) from Meghalaya in the collection of V /M/ERS/ (which formed the basis for records in northeastern India) and compared them with series of true My. longipes from the Western Himalayas. We noted that the dorsal coat colour of longipes was little lighter than laniger with the latter having a dark glossy sheen. The ventral fur of My. longipes looked beige compared to the greyish ventrum of My. laniger . For both species, wings joined at the base of the metatarsus. However, while the feet of My. longipes were covered with a few scattered hairs, they were much hairier in My. laniger . External dimension of My. longipes were very similar to My. laniger except for larger ears in My. longipes (average 15.5 mm against 12.8 mm in My. laniger ). Compared with My. laniger , the cranial dimensions of My. longipes were slightly smaller ( Table S4). The braincase in both species were bulbous but more so in My. laniger ( Fig. 20B View FIGURE 20 ) with wider post–orbital constriction (3.5–3.9 mm against 3.3 mm in My. longipes ). My. longipes also had a wider lachrymal bridge (1.06 mm) than My. laniger (0.93 mm) as noted by Topál (1997). The anterior dentition was weak in both species with a small canine which was almost at the level of third premolar’s height ( Fig. 20 View FIGURE 20 ). However, the molars in My. longipes appeared wider and stronger than in My. laniger . Lower molars were myotodont in both species.

The baculum structure of the two species differed significantly. In My. longipes , the baculum was minute and resembled to an arrowhead with a slightly roundish tip. There was a roundish indentation at the base, which was more pronounced dorsally. The length of baculum varied from 0.32–0.36 mm and 0.17–0.20 mm in breadth. This conforms well to the bacular description of specimens from the type locality (Bumzov cave, Kashmir) in Srinivasulu et al. (2020). In contrast, the baculum of My. laniger was shovel shaped and dorsally convex and measured 0.75 mm in length ( V /M/ERS/371).

These comparisons confirmed earlier claims of Topál (1997) that My. longipes in the Western Himalayas and My. laniger in Eastern Himalaya (and further east to China) are morphologically distinct. This conclusion was also strongly supported by molecular analyses ( Ruedi et al. 2021). As far as we know, My. longipes is distributed in the western Himalayan states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the easternmost recorded locality being Ansuya Devi in Kedarnath WLS ( Chakravarty et al. 2020). However, according to the above– mentioned genetic results, records of My. csorbai from Nepal ( Topál 1997; Dahal et al. 2024) might also represent My. longipes (as a distinct subspecies) and would be its most oriental occurence. The exact geographic boundary between My. longipes and the similar looking My. laniger in the Himalaya clearly needs further investigations based on vouchered or genetically identified specimens.