A new species of Kerivoula is described from Seima Biodiversity Conservation Area, Cambodia. It is widely distributed in mainland Southeast Asia, with referred material from 12 additional localities in Myanmar, Thailand, Lao PDR and Vietnam. Superficially similar to Kerivoula flora, it is distinguished by its flattened skull, a character shared with the larger, recently described, Kerivoula kachinensis. It is known from a variety of habitat types, both pristine and disturbed, including deciduous dipterocarp forest, moist evergreen and semi-evergreen forest, forest on limestone karst and upper montane forest

The Cat Ba Biosphere Reserve is internationally renowned for its spectacular karst landscape. It covers a large area with hundreds of limestone islands and various ecosystems including caves, tropical forests, and mangroves. However, previous surveys were only conducted in terrestrial ecosystems on Cat Ba Island. Therefore, bats inhabiting mangroves and the remaining islands did not receive attention from scientists up to 2014. To initially fill in the gaps, we conducted ten bat surveys between 2015 and 2020 with an emphasis on mangroves and previously unsurveyed islands. Bats were captured using mist nets and harp traps. Twenty-three species belonging to 13 genera of six families were recorded during the surveys. Of these, four species (Macroglossus minimus, Myotis hasselti, Phoniscus jagorii, Tylonycteris fulvida) are new to the reserve. Remarkably, 15 species belonging to seven genera of five families were captured in mangrove, which is the highest species diversity for bats reported from any mangrove area in mainland Southeast Asia. Based on results from the surveys and literature review, we here provide the most updated bat diversity of the reserve with confirmed records of 32 bat species belonging to 16 genera of six families. Historical records of each species in the literature were reviewed. Two species, Scotophilus heathi and Scotophilus kuhlii, are unconfirmed because of unclear evidence in previous publications. Results of this study indicated that the mangrove ecosystem is important for bats but still poorly studied in Cat Ba Biosphere Reserve and Vietnam as a whole. In addition, morphological measurements, echolocation data, distributional records, and conservation status of each species are also given in this paper for potential research and conservation campaigns in the future.

Convergence offers an opportunity to explore to what extent evolution can be predictable when genomic composition and environmental triggers are similar. Here, we present an emergent model system to study convergent evolution in nature in a mammalian group, the bat genus Myotis. Three foraging strategies—gleaning, trawling, and aerial hawking, each characterized by different sets of phenotypic features—have evolved independently multiple times in different biogeographic regions in isolation for millions of years. To investigate the genomic basis of convergence and explore the functional genomic changes linked to ecomorphological convergence, we sequenced and annotated 17 new genomes and screened 16,426 genes for positive selection and associations between relative evolutionary rates and foraging strategies across 30 bat species representing all Myotis ecomorphs across geographic regions as well as among sister groups. We identify genomic changes that describe both phylogenetic and ecomorphological trends. We infer that colonization of new environments may have first required changes in genes linked to hearing sensory perception, followed by changes linked to fecundity and development, metabolism of carbohydrates, and heme degradation. These changes may be linked to prey acquisition and digestion and match phylogenetic trends. Our findings also suggest that the repeated evolution of ecomorphs does not always involve changes in the same genes but rather in genes with the same molecular functions such as developmental and cellular processes.

The Szechwan myotis, Myotis altarium, was first described in 1911 from southeastern China, and for the next 100 years was thought to be restricted to that country with just one additional individual known from Aung Kang region in northern Thailand. We captured eight individuals of this species during surveys in Copia Nature Reserve in northwestern Vietnam and two individuals from East Khasi Hills and East Jaintia Hills districts of Meghalaya state, northeastern India. They are described here as the first records for Vietnam and India. We also provide comparative mensural data including the holotype and other specimens from Southeast Asia. The record of M. altarium from Meghalaya significantly extends the westward distribution range of this species beyond Thailand. Our study affirms previous observations of the cave dwelling habits of M. altarium and suggests that this species temporarily hibernates during cold winter periods in Vietnam. It is also suggested that its distribution range may encompass other karstic habitats in the mainland Indomalayan region.

Mangrove ecosystems play important ecological roles, including the mitigation of global climate change and biodiversity conservation. However, they have received little attention from scientists for the research and conservation of bats and general biodiversity. In Vietnam, bat species inhabiting mangroves have been relatively unstudied, while this ecosystem is located along the country’s coastal zones and has declined dramatically due to the development of agriculture, wind energy and other threats. To initially fill this gap, five bat surveys were conducted between September 2019 and November 2021 within Ha Long Bay and Ben Tre province, which contain representative mangrove areas of northern and southern regions of Vietnam, respectively. Bats were captured using mist nets, mobile nets and hand nets. Their echolocation calls were recorded and analyzed using the PCTape system and Selena software, respectively. Five species were captured and recorded: Cynopterus brachyotis, Macroglossus minimus, Myotis hasselti, Myotis pilosus and Taphozous melanopogon. They are all new to both Ha Long Bay and Ben Tre province. Four species (C. brachyotis, M. minimus, M. hasselti and M. pilosus) have been rarely documented from other ecosystems in Vietnam but have commonly been recorded and captured in mangrove areas. Of these species, M. pilosus is a globally “Vulnerable” species. While searching for prey, Myotis hasselti emitted high energy echolocation calls sweeping from about 96 to about 24 kHz with a signal duration of about 5 ms. This species sometimes uses social calls of a horseshoe-shaped structure, which last about 15 ms and are emitted about 26 ms in front of a search call. Results from our surveys indicated the importance and potential of mangroves for bat research and conservation.