A new species of Tube-nosed Bat (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae: Murina) from Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China.

In 2018, an adult male of a small-sized Tube-nosed Bat (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae: Murina) was captured at an arid cave located on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in Yushu City, Qinghai Province, China. Despite external morphological similarities with those of M. harpioloides and M. chrysochaetes, the individual in question displays explicit craniodental differences that distinguish it from either species. Morphological and morphometric evidence, coupled with phylogenetic analyses utilizing the mitochondrial COI gene, confirmed that it represents a distinct and still unknown species of Murina, described herewith as M. yushuensis sp. nov. Our research highlights the importance of future surveys aimed at exploring cryptic species diversity in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and adjacent under-surveyed regions. © The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society of Mammalogists.

Citation

Xiaoyun Wang, Xuesong Han, Gábor Csorba, Yi Wu, Huaiqing Chen, Xiang Zhao, Zhengyi Dong, Wenhua Yu, Zhi Lu. A new species of Tube-nosed Bat (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae: Murina) from Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China. Journal of mammalogy. 2025 Feb;106(1):178-186

PMID: 39886216

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