Bats

The Indian bat fauna includes 8 families, 39 genera, 117 species and 100 subspecies (Talmale and Pradhan 2009). Each of the states of India has its own peculiarities of climate, topography, flora and fauna. Reviewing the bat fauna state wise and at the regional level, it is found that in India West Bengal state has the highest number of bat species reported till date, which comprises about 54.72% of the total bat species of India. The plains of the North India have 71 species of insectivorous bats. Of the 14 species of the frugivorous bats of India, 50% are reported from the North-East region as well as from the islands of India. Considering the area, Meghalay state of India has considerably high aggregation of bat species. The Central and South-West region of India is the most explored area for the study of bat species; about 779 localities are reported for 50 bat species. This study helps to understand the preference of various bat species for the climate, topography and vegetation in India. This knowledge also gives the insight to plan the conservation measures for this unique fauna of the world.

Experts have confirmed that bats are one of the least studied mammalian groups in the region. Information for many species is based only on museum or literature references, with no recent population or distributional information. Therefore, chiroptera surveys make up the primary research recommendation for nearly all Indian bats. Ecological studies are strongly recommended for better understanding of the status and economic value of species as well as to provide justification for upgrading bats in national legislation.