Vietnamese and international scientists have discovered a new species of bat in the Cat Ba and Chu Mom Ray national parks of Vietnam.
A distinctive echolocation frequency led to the discovery of a new
species of bat within the genus Hipposideros. Although this bat is
similar to the species Hipposideros armiger, differences in acoustics,
size, and DNA between these bats led to the identification of the new
species. This new member of the bat community has been given the
scientific name Hipposideros griffini.
The H. griffini bat has a smaller overall body size than its close
cousin, H. armiger, and variations in the skull and teeth. Differences
also appeared in the mitochondrial DNA collected from these bats. The
echolocation frequencies of the new species range from 76.6 to 79.2 kHz,
which is higher than frequencies of several H. armiger subspecies,
which range from 64.7 to 71.4 kHz. Additional evidence shows that these
two species are occupying the same geographical region yet have retained
their separate identities.
Dr. Vu Dinh Thong, a member of the research group, who comes from the
Institute of Ecology and Bioresources of Vietnam, said that the new
species of bat is named after the late professor Donald Redfield
Griffin, of Rockefeller University in New York. Griffin was a leader in
and essential contributor to bat echolocation research, which was key to
identifying H. griffini as a new species. The proposed common name for
this bat is "Griffin's leaf-nosed bat."
The new species was found at Cat Ba Island in Ha Long Bay in northern
Vietnam and in Chu Mom Ray National Park, situated on the mainland more
than 600 miles (1,000 km) to the south. H. griffini joins about 70 other
species within the genus Hipposideros.
The discovery was the result of cooperation among experts of Vietnam’s
Institute of Ecology and Bio-resources, Germany’s Tuebingen University,
Britain’s Harrison Institute, the Hungarian Natural History Museum and
the Dublin University of Ireland.
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