Bamboo-Dwelling Bat:
Scientists have discovered a new species of bamboo-dwelling bat near the Nongkhyllem Wildlife Sanctuary.
- The new species of bamboo-dwelling bat has been named Glischropus meghalayanus.
- Bamboo-dwelling bats are a particular kind of bat living in the internodes of bamboo with specialised morphological characters that help them to adapt to the life inside a bamboo plant.
- It is small in size and has a dark brown colour with sulphur yellow belly.
- The present discovery is the first report of a thick-thumbed bat not only from India but also from South Asia.
- This bat has typical fleshy pads on the thumb and soles of feet which aid them to crawl over smooth surfaces of bamboo internodes
- Thick-thumbed bats of the genus Glischropus are currently composed of four recognized species from Southeast Asia.
- G. aquilus is endemic to Sumatra, G. javanus is restricted to western Java, whereas G. bucephalus is widely distributed north to the Isthmus of Kra and G. tylopus is widespread south to this zoogeographic boundary.
- Earlier, a new species of thick-thumbed bat (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae: Glischropus) from Meghalaya, north-eastern India was discovered.
