Titania's Woolly Bat
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Titania's woolly bat (''Kerivoula titania'') is a species of bat found in
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
.


Taxonomy and etymology

It was initially described as a new species in 2007 based on specimens collected from
Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary (Khmer language, Khmer: ដែនជម្រកសត្វព្រៃកែវសីមា) is a protected area of mixed seasonal tropical forest in eastern Cambodia, located in Mondulkiri Province, Mondulkiri and ...
in eastern Cambodia. It is similar in appearance to other ''
Kerivoula ''Kerivoula'' is a genus of vesper bats in the subfamily Kerivoulinae. They are found throughout tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Asia, and New Guinea. Species within this genus are: * Tanzanian woolly bat (''Kerivoula africana'') * ...
'' species, but has a
genetic divergence Genetic divergence is the process in which two or more populations of an ancestral species accumulate independent genetic changes ( mutations) through time, often leading to reproductive isolation and continued mutation even after the populations h ...
of 12%, which was deemed great enough to warrant naming it as a new species. The
species name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...
"''titania''" is a reference to the character Titania from
Shakespeare's William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
''
A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a Comedy (drama), comedy play written by William Shakespeare in about 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One s ...
''. The authors named the bat after the "Queen of the Fairies" to reflect "the
nymph A nymph (; ; sometimes spelled nymphe) is a minor female nature deity in ancient Greek folklore. Distinct from other Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature; they are typically tied to a specific place, land ...
-like nature of this forest bat."


Description

It is considered a medium-sized member of its genus. Its forearm is long. It has large, mostly hairless ears that are long. It has tall and narrow tragi that are long. Its tail is long. It weighs . Its skull has a distinctly flat appearance. Its
dental formula Dentition pertains to the development of teeth and their arrangement in the mouth. In particular, it is the characteristic arrangement, kind, and number of teeth in a given species at a given age. That is, the number, type, and morpho-physiology ...
is for a total of 38 teeth. Its individual hairs are tricolored: their bases are black, their middles are pale gray, and their tips are dark gray.


Biology and ecology

It is
nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...
and roosts in sheltered places during the day Its flattened skull suggests that it roosts in constricted spaces such as under tree bark or in crevices. Not much is known about its reproduction, but a female in late-stage pregnancy was once documented in early May. Lactating females have been recorded in mid May and early June. It is one of the known
natural reservoir In Infection, infectious disease ecology and epidemiology, a natural reservoir, also known as a disease reservoir or a reservoir of infection, is the population of organisms or the specific environment in which an infectious pathogen naturally li ...
s of the
SARS coronavirus Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 1 (SARS-CoV-1), previously known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), is a strain of coronavirus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the respiratory illn ...
. In one study in Taiwan, 10% of individuals tested positive for the SARS coronavirus.


Range and habitat

This species was first described from eastern Cambodia, with additional specimens from
Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
,
Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...
,
Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...
, and
Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
. In 2012, it was first documented in
Hainan Island Hainan is an island province and the southernmost province of China. It consists of the eponymous Hainan Island and various smaller islands in the South China Sea under the province's administration. The name literally means "South of the Sea ...
of China and
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
. This discovery made it only the third bat of its genus to be documented in China.


Conservation

It is currently assessed as
least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...
by the
IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...
—its lowest conservation priority. It meets the criteria for this assessment because it has a large range, no major threats to this species have been identified, and it is not likely to be declining quickly.


References


External links


An image of this species
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1818890 Mammals described in 2007 Bats of Southeast Asia Kerivoulinae