A recent bat survey reveals Bukit Barisan Selatan landscape as a chiropteran diversity hotspot in Sumatra

Abstract

Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park is one of the last refuges protecting intact forest and a representative mammalian fauna in Sumatra. However, knowledge of bat diversity in the area is limited. From 2010 to 2012, 47 bat species were recorded through a series of surveys in 12 localities within and around the national park. An additional six species from the area were identified from the mammal collection of the Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense, Indonesia. At least seven of the species reported in this study are new records for Sumatra, including Kerivoula krauensis, K. lenis, K. minuta, Murina rozendaali, Myotis horsfieldii, Myotis cf. borneoensis, and Rhinolophus borneensis/celebensis. Moreover, a finding of two distinct morphs of Chironax melanocephalus coexisting in the study area indicates another possible undescribed species. With 60 species, we consider Bukit Barisan Selatan Landscape to be a Southeast Asian bat diversity hotspot and of critical importance in maintaining bat diversity in Sumatra.