Small Mammal Mail
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Small Mammal Mail Newsletter celebrating the most useful yet most neglected Mammals for CCINSA & RISCINSA -- Chiroptera, Rodentia, Insectivora & Scandentia Conservation and Information Networks of South Asia Volume 5 Number 1 ISSN 2230-7087 June 2013 Contents First report of Saccolaimus saccolaimus Temminck, 1838 (Chiroptera: Emballonuridae) from Assam, northeast India --Ananda Ram Boro, Uttam Saikia and P.K. Sikia, Pp. 2-3. Investigating the least known small mammals of Jahangirnagar University campus, Bangladesh --Salma Akter, Farjana Rahman and Md. Abdul Aziz, Pp. 4-6. An aberrant specimen of Pipistrellus species from Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh --Bhargavi Srinivasulu and C. Srinivasulu, P. 6. Bat Survey in Eastern Terai of Nepal --Sanjan Thapa, Rajesh Goit, and Ghanashyam Niraula, Pp. 7-13. Food Habits of Northern Palm Squirrel Funambulus pennantii Wroughton, 1905 in Chuadanga District, Bangladesh --Tahsinur Rahman Shihan, Pp. 14-15. Occurrence of Indian Painted Bat (Kerivuola picta) in dry deciduous forests of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, Southern India --Nachiketha S.R. and Sreepada K.S., Pp. 16-17. Unwillingness to Bat Open Art Exhibition 2013, Nepal --Sabina Koirala, Rama Karki, Narayan Lamichhane and Sanjan Thapa, P. 18. Bat Conservation Practices in Nepal --Sanjan Thapa, Pp. 19-21. Bats, Birds, Biodiversity! Gliding guests of Kittampalayam, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu --Brawin Kumar, Pp. 22-23. Occurrence of Edward’s Rat Leopoldamys edwardsi (Thomas, 1882) (Rodentia: Muridae) in Mizoram, northeast India --Uttam Saikia and Dimos Khynriam, Pp 24-25. First record of Lesser False Vampire bat (Megaderma spasma, Linnaeus, 1758) from Sundergarh, Odisha, India --Subrat Debata, Himansu S. Palei, Pratush P. Mohapatra and Arun K. Mishra, Pp 26-27. Present scenario and possible threats to the Microchiropteran Bats near Jambughoda Wildlife Sanctuary, Gujarat --Ranjitsinh Devkar, Pritesh Patel and Kartik Upadhyay, Pp 28-31. Occurrence of Indian Tree Shrew Anathana ellioti ellioti (Waterhouse, 1850) in Khandesh, Maharashtra NPS feeding Gmelina -- Jatin J. Shrivastava, S.S. Talmale, Umesh K. Patil, Ganesh R. Sonar, Pp 32-34. arborea in Bangladesh Bats Hero in Bangladesh!: Kaji Fakhrul Islam, (Image: Tahsinur Rahman) P. 3 5 . Small Mammal Mail - Bi-Annual Newsletter of CCINSA & RISCINSA 1 Volume 5, Number 1, June 2013 1 First report of Saccolaimus saccolaimus Temminck, 1838 (Chiroptera: Emballonuridae) from Assam, northeast India Ananda Ram Boro1, Uttam Saikia2* and P.K. Saikia3 The bat fauna of the north-eastern states of India is very diverse with about 65 reported species from the region (Sinha, 1999; Bates and Harrison, 1997; Thabah and Bates, 2002; Ruedi et al 2012). This constitutes over 50 percent of the 117 species known from India (Talmale and Pradhan, 2009). This impressive species diversity can be attributed to habitat heterogeneity and partly to the past faunal interchange with the western Himalayan region of India from where a number of Palearctic mammalian species invaded the region thus, enhancing the species composition. However, compared to the northeastern region as a whole, the bat fauna of the state of Assam is not very remarkable comprising about 28 reported species (Sinha, 1999; Bates and Harrison, 1997). This apparently lower species diversity is partially because of fact that bat fauna of the state has not been explored satisfactorily till date. This is evident Fig1: Dorsal view of Saccolaimus saccolaimus showing the typical pelage from very little published information colouration on the group from the state during the post independence period except for Kurup (1968) and Sinha (1999), the former dealing with the mammalian fauna as a whole and the latter providing a consolidated account of the bats of northeast India. During the course of field work in Baksa district of central Assam, the authors could collect a number of bat specimens, one of which was identified as Saccolaimus saccolaimus (Temminck, 1838). A perusal of published information revealed that, thus far, the species has not been recorded from Assam (Bates and Harrison, 1997; Molur et al. 2002; Csorba et al. 2008). In the present communication, this species is being reported from Assam on the basis of a freshly collected specimen from western Assam. The specimen is deposited in the Department of Zoology, Gauhati University for future reference. Fig2: Dorsolateral view of Saccolaimus saccolaimus Saccolailmus saccolaimus (Temminck, 1838), commonly known as Bare- Islands, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, West Bengal (Bates and Harrison, rumped Sheathtail Bat is one of the Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, 1997; Molur et al. 2002). During field biggest emballonurid bats of India Meghalaya, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and surveys in Balahati Village (c. with an average forearm length of 63-68mm (Srinivasulu et al. 2010). In 1Department of Zoology, Pandu College, Guwahati. 2Zoological Survey of India, India, this species is known to be Fruit Garden, Risa Colony, Shillong-03. 3Department of Zoology, Gauhati distributed in Andaman and Nicobar University, Guwahati-14. *Corresponding author email: [email protected] Small Mammal Mail - Bi-Annual Newsletter of CCINSA & RISCINSA 2 Volume 5, Number 1, June 2013 2 26032’08”N, 91043’07”E, 64m asl) References Srinivasulu, C., P.A. Racey & S. under Tamulpur Division in Baksa Bates, P.J.J. & D.L. Harrison Mistry (2010). A key to the bats district of Assam, a female specimen (1997). Bats of The Indian (Mammalia: Chiroptera) of South Asia. of this species was collected on 16th Subcontinent. Harrison Zoological Journal of Threatened Taxa 2(7): January, 2013. A colony of eleven Museum Publications, Sevenoaks, 1001-1076. individuals was observed roosting United Kingdom, 258pp+8pls under dried leaves of a palm tree near Csorba, G., S. Bumrungsri, C. Talmale, S.S. and M.S. Pradhan a pond surrounded by rice fields at Francis, Helgen, P. Bates, L. (2009). A checklist of valid Indian bat about forty feet from the ground. The Heaney, D. Balete, & B. Thomson, species (Chiroptera: Mammalia) single animal was collected by (2008). Saccolaimus saccolaimus. In: Online version, Zoological Survey of scooping a butterfly net by an expert IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of India, Kolkata, www.zsi.gov.in/ climber. The dorsal pelage is dark Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. checklist/Indian_Chiroptera.pdf brown with many hairs having white <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded tips and giving an overall grizzled on 19 February 2013. Thabah, A and P.J. Bates (2002) appearance. There are many irregular Recent record of Otomops wroughtoni white patches especially around the Field Museum of Natural History (Thomas, 1913) (Chiroptera: rump region (Fig 1). Venter is lighter (2008): The Collection of Mammals Molossidae) from Meghalaya, north- in comparison. The lower lip has a Database, Division of Mammals, east India. Acta Zoologica Academiae characteristic deep ‘V’ shaped groove Zoology Department, Field Museum of Scientiarum Hungaricae 48 (3): 251– in the middle. The external and cranial Natural History, Chicago. http:// 253 measurements of the preserved emuweb.fieldmuseum.org/mammals/ specimen are given below. Query.phpKurup Acknowledgement: The first author is grateful to the Principal, Pandu External (in mm): Hb-84, Tl-27, Kurup, G.U. (1968). Mammals of College and the second author FA-70.75, E-15.5, Tb-28, Hf-16.2 Assam and adjoining area. 2. A expresses his gratitude to Dr. K. distributional list. Proceedings of the Venkataraman, Director, Zoological Cranial (in mm): GTL-26.75, Zoological Society of Calcutta Survey of India and Officer-in-Charge, CCL-24.36, ZB-17, PC-5, CM3-10.7, 21:79-99 ZSI, Shillong for encouragement and C1-C1-5.21, M3-M3-11.35, M-19.75, departmental facilities. CM3-11.88 Molur, S., G. Marimuthu, C. Srinivasulu, S. Mistry, A.M. Saccolaimus saccolaimus is listed as Hutson, P.J.J. Bates, S. Walker, Least Concern in the IUCN Red List of K.P. Priya & A.R.B. Priya (eds.) Threatened Species 2012 and (2002). Status of South Asian Conservation Assessment and Chiroptera: Conservation Assessment Management Plan workshop 2002 (for and Management Plan (C.A.M.P.) South Asia) apparently because of Workshop Report. Zoo Outreach widespread distribution. However, our Organization, Conservation Breeding field observation in the study area Specialist Group South Asia, and suggests that it is probably uncommon Wildlife Information & Liaison locally. We randomly looked at around Development Society, Coimbatore, 20 palm trees in the vicinity of the India, viii+154pp.+CD. tree from which this bat was collected, but none was found to harbour this Ruedi, M., J. Biswas and G. Csorba species and a few knowledgeable local (2012): Bats from the wet: two new people also noted that they have not species of Tube-nosed bats encountered this bat earlier. From (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) from other parts of northeast India, this Meghalaya, India. Revue Suisse de species is known from a single locality Zoologie 119(1): 111-135 (Phulbari, c. 25053’N, 90001’E) in West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya Sinha, Y.P. (1999). Contribution to (Specimen Catalogue No. 76058; the knowledge of Bats (Mammalia: FMNH, 2008) although it is reported Chiroptera) of North East Hills, India. widely distributed in other parts of Records of the Zoological Survey of India. Intensive surveys are required India. Occasional Paper No. 174, to ascertain the status of this species Zoological Survey of India, Kolkota, in the northeast India 52pp Small Mammal Mail - Bi-Annual Newsletter of CCINSA & RISCINSA 3 Volume 5, Number 1, June 2013 3 Investigating the least known small mammals of Jahangirnagar University campus, Bangladesh Salma Akter, Farjana Rahman and Md. Abdul Aziz* We investigated the local status and some ecological aspects of small mammals, particularly the rodents and bats of Jahangirnagar University Campus during the years 2011 and 2012. Live rodent traps with baits and mist net were used in capturing rodents and bats respectively in different habitat types in the campus. Jahangirnagar University campus, located in the central part of the country, has been an important biodiversity hotspot despite of increased urbanization over decades.