v9i2.239

Submitted date: 12 June 2020
Accepted date: 30 September 2020
Published date: 28 November 2020
Pp. 232–236, Pls. 65–66.

Lesser large-footed Bat (Myotis hasseltii) from Southwest Sri Lanka

G. Edirisinghe*, D. Gabadage, M. Botejue, D. Dissanayake, P. Chandika & T. Surasinghe
*Corresponding author. E-mail: gayan.yza@gmail.com

The Lesser large-footed bat, Myotis hasseltii, is distributed in Sri Lanka, India (West Bengal) and Southeast Asia including Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, VietNam, Peninsular Malaysia, Indonesia, and China. Although the Global Red List of IUCN categorized this species as of Least Concern, the National Red List of Sri Lanka lists it as Near Threatened. Myotis hasseltii is a relatively rare bat species in Sri Lanka, and has a patchy distribution there with the few previous locality records coming from the northern, eastern and southern parts of the dry zone of the island. Earlier records of this species are from Anuradhapura, Kappachchi, Kokoputchi, Valaichchenai and Yala National Park, Minipe Canal near Randenigala and Thelgamuwa Oya near Illukkumbura in the Knuckles region. Here, we provide the first record of M. hasseltii from the Southwestern wet zone of Sri Lanka (Sabaragamuwa Province).

Section Editor: Burton Lim