Murina cyclotis Dobson, 1872

23. Murina cyclotis Dobson, 1872 View in CoL

(Round–eared tube–nosed bat)

New material: 1 M, 10.06.2017, Kandaghat, Solan District , Himachal Pradesh, V /M/ERS/425 .

Morphological description of specimen: Our specimen had a forearm length of 31.7 mm. The pelage was long and woolly, the dorsal colouration was bright orange, and the ventral fur was beige–white with slightly darker roots ( Fig. 11F View FIGURE 11 ). The ears were light brown, the anterior border was concave and the posterior one slightly convex without emergination. Ears had broadly rounded tip. The outwardly protruding nostrils were very prominent. The muzzle was flesh coloured with a few whiskers on both lips. The dorsal side of the interfemoral membrane was densely covered with hairs. The feet were also covered with long orange hairs.

DNA: The COI sequence of this specimen (M 2260 /V /M/ERS/425) was very distinct from any Murina sequence available in the GenBank, the closest match being a series of Mu. guilleni haplotypes from Peninsular Thailand (e.g., GB KY034137 View Materials ) at over 10% sequence divergence ( Table S2). All other Mu. cylotis s.l. were separated by over 13% K2P distance from the Himachal Pradesh individual. The same pattern was observed with a CYTB sequence of this Himachal Pradesh individual, which was closest to one sequence of Mu. cyclotis from Cambodia (GB GQ168916 View Materials ) at 13.2% K2P ( Table S3).

Locality records and ecological notes: Chakravarty et al. (2020) recorded this bat from Devalsari (1698 m) in Uttarakhand which was the first report of this species from Western Himalayas. The present new specimen is the first record from Himachal Pradesh (at Kandaghat, 1560 m) extending the distribution of Mu. cyclotis westwards in the Western Himalayas. This individual was caught in a harp trap which was set in an opening of mixed pine forest ( Pinus roxburghii and Quercus spp ) along a railway track where Mu. huttonii was also caught in the same night. In Uttarakhand, this species was caught in a mist net in the intersection of Cedrus deodara dominated forest and scrub–covered hills ( Chakravarty et al. 2020).

Taxonomic notes: Mu. cyclotis belongs to a clade consisting of several mitochondrial lineages but showing surprisingly uniform morphology including external and craniodental features. New taxa recently described from the Indomalayan Region and the Nicobar Islands (e.g., Francis & Eger 2012; Soisook et al. 2013) are no exceptions. The craniodentally similar Mu. pluvialis from Meghalaya can be easily distinguished by its very dark bases in dorsal and ventral hairs ( Ruedi et al. 2012) and is also very distinct genetically (>20% K2P, e.g., from specimen M 2052/V /M/ERS/353). Eastern India (Darjeeling) being the type locality for Mu. cyclotis , the available records from Meghalaya could best represent the nominal species, but the CYTB sequence of one of these specimens (GB JQ044691 View Materials ) differed by 15.1% K2P from the Himachal Pradesh haplotype ( Table S2). Other sequences available and labelled as “ cyclotis ” in the GenBank and sampled further east were also quite divergent (>13% K2P). Compared to mammalian standards ( Bradley & Baker 2001) these divergence values are considerable and suggest additional taxonomic diversity. Other workers also found high genetic diversity of Mu. cyclotis within Southeast Asia and opined that the form found in Indochina is not the same as that from the type locality in India ( Francis & Eger 2012).