New species of tube-nosed bat discovered on China's Qinghai-Tibet Plateau 

(ECNS) -- A new species of tube-nosed bat, named Murina yushuensis, was discovered in Yushu City, northwest China's Qinghai Province, according to Shan Shui Conservation Center (SSCC).

In 2018, an adult male small-sized tube-nosed bat was captured at an arid cave in the upper Yangtze River in Yushu City by a researcher from the center.

Han Xuesong, a Ph.D. student at Peking University and scientific advisor at the SSCC, said that tube-nosed bats belong to an arboreal group, the second largest in the bat family, mainly inhabiting the warm, humid forests of Asia and Oceania.

He added that in contrast, the high-altitude, oxygen-poor Sanjiangyuan discovery site on area of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is significant in understanding the migration and dispersal of tube-nosed bats, as well as their adaptability to extreme environments.

The discovery was published in the Journal of Mammalogy with the title of “A new species of Tube-nosed Bat (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae: Murina) from Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, China”.