Scientists Discover Several New Bat Species in West Africa

It goes to show that we're not done discovering new species. Scientists have uncovered several new bats in West Africa, revealing that there are even species of mammals that have not yet been found in the wild. 

It's perhaps not all that surprising that these species of bats have remained undiscovered for so long. In Senegal, there's a wealth of diversity among Vesper bats. Since the bats look so similar, though, it's difficult to tell whether or not they're a new species without genetic testing.

In this case, the researchers conducted seven expeditions to the Niokolo-Koba National Park in southeastern Senegal. There, they studied 213 bats and identified 10 different species. Five of these were genetically different enough to be nominated. Despite their genetic differences, though, these fives species looked similar to other populations in Africa.

Vesper bats (Vespertilionidae) are actually the largest family of bats. There are more than 400 known species, and more are being found as genetic testing becomes the norm. Despite the long history of zoological surveys on the African continent, knowledge of bats is patchy and usually targeted to particular regions; this explains why these new species were discovered only recently. The new species include Pipistrellus hesperidus, Nycticeinops schieffenii, Scotoecus hirundo, Neoromicia nana and Neoromicia somalica.

"The fact that these Senegalese bats are unrelated and are different to their cousins in other parts of Africa, suggests that West Africa may have been isolated in the past and formed a refugium, where populations gradually diverged and even acquired new chromosomal configurations," said Nancy Irwin, one of the researchers, in a news release. "This exciting finding confirms that West Africa may represent an underestimated bio-geographic hotspot with many more species to discover."

The findings reveal that there's a wealth of genetic diversity among these bats. In addition, it shows that researchers are far from discovering every type of species in the world. This is important when it comes to conservation efforts, which can target species-rich areas in order to preserve as many as possible-even when we haven't identified every species there.

The findings are published in the journal Frontiers in Zoology.