New Bat Species in Town....

[BatiArb]

Tiny bat found in Britain for first time

 

Alcathoe's bat, first identified in Greece in 2001 and thought too weak to cross Channel, found in Yorkshire and Sussex

 

 

Martin Wainwright, Latest news, comment and reviews from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 20 April 2010 15.39 BST

 

 

A bat the size of a thumbprint has been found for the first time in Britain, after crossing the Channel in defiance of experts' predictions.

 

Alcathoe's bat is the smallest of Europe's whiskered bats and the most recently discovered. It was identified as a separate species in Greece only in 2001, after tests on the frequency of its radar call, which is used by all bats to navigate and catch prey.

 

Named after a Greek princess who was changed into a bat after refusing to worship the god Dionysus, or Bacchus, the tiny mammal has been found in caves in North Yorkshire and Sussex. The sites are already celebrated in bat lore and were rigorously checked by ecologists from Leeds and Sheffield universities as part of a bat survey covering Europe.

 

The Yorkshire cave is hidden in woodland in Ryedale and was home to Britain's last-known colonies of rare barbastelle and lesser horseshoe bats in the 1960s. The Sussex site, also in woodland on the South Downs, is an area known to house a number of other rare bat species.

 

Both colonies will automatically receive the stringent protection enjoyed by other British bats.

 

Prof John Altringham of Leeds University said that the bats almost certainly existed elsewhere in the United Kingdom, but had been overlooked because of their close resemblance to other whiskered species.

 

"Identification based on appearance alone can be difficult even for the expert," he said. "In the end, only some subtle physical differences and Alcathoe's distinctive echo-location call, which terminates at a significantly higher frequency than those of its relatives (43-46khz) makes identification possible without genetic analysis."

 

Alcathoe was previously thought to be too small and weak to have crossed the Channel, but the survey suggests that the British population may be quite large. The bats were trapped as they flew into underground swarming sites where thousands of bats from many species mate before hibernating for winter.

 

Brian Walker, wildlife officer for the Forestry Commission in the North York Moors national park, said: "We have some incredibly rich bat habitats here. It was only a few years ago that work locally helped to confirm that the common pipistrelle bat was actually made up of two different species."

 

The discovery of Alcathoe's bat takes the number of British species to 17, making bats the most diverse of the country's wild mammals.

 

 

Tiny bat found in Britain for first time | Environment | guardian.co.uk

[nepia]

In your private opinion what are the chances of the species establishing here?

[sean freeman]

Hi Andrew...nice post :>)

 

Do you think that Alcathoe's bat has been with you guys longer (perhaps all the time) or that something is driving it further afield from its 'normal' range?

 

I only ask since the increasing occurance of our more obvious larger bat species over here (that causes so much unjustified unhappiness amongst urban dwellers) is actually considered by most ecologists as a signal of extreme population strain in their natural range/habitat.

[BatiArb]

Hi Andrew...nice post :>)

 

Do you think that Alcathoe's bat has been with you guys longer (perhaps all the time) or that something is driving it further afield from its 'normal' range?

 

I only ask since the increasing occurance of our more obvious larger bat species over here (that causes so much unjustified unhappiness amongst urban dwellers) is actually considered by most ecologists as a signal of extreme population strain in their natural range/habitat.

 

 

Interesting points both of these.

 

Considering the size of the bat and habitat, etc. My suspicion is that it has been here for a while and it is only through our increase use of technological survey equipment and increased survey effort that it has come to light.

 

Andrew

[Giles Hill]

''As big as a thumb print''

 

How big exactly is it? I've got medium size thumbs, or to be more precise they're about 1/3 the size of a small mouse.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

What a great post, a bat the size of a bee! mental.

 

i can see fungi going on the back burner for a stint of knowledge finding on bats!

[David Humphries]

good heads up Andy, thanks.

 

 

Talking of bats & fungi, can you give any update on the white nose fungus affecting American bats, heard something about a French hibernator having something similar.

 

Any news?

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

[Andy Collins]

BBC News - Alcathoe's bat discovered in Yorkshire and Sussex oops should have opened the original link, says pretty much the same tbh Edited April 21, 2010 by Andy Collins

[Charlieh]

any ideas what the sonogram looks like then?

[BatiArb]

Am afraid no, that kind of detail is not available yet.