On 21 July 2005, a live bat specimen was caught by a double
height 6m mist net at So Lo Pun in Plover Cove Country Park. On careful
examination of the body features and measurements, the specimen was confirmed to
be the Greater Bamboo Bat (Tylonycteris robustula),
a member of the Vespertilionidae. This is the first record of this species in
Hong Kong, and discovery raised raised the total number of bat species in Hong
Kong to 23.
There are now two species of Tylonycteris in Hong Kong. The
other is the Lesser Bamboo Bat
(T. pachypus)
which was firstly recorded in Hong Kong in 1996 (Ades, 1996). Both species have
the greatly flattened skull and the presence of cushions or pads on their
thumbs and feet. Such features are remarkably adapted for gaining access to and
roosting in the hollow joints of bamboo stems. It is likely that the captured
specimen roosted in the Chinese Thorny Bamboo (Bambusa sinospinosa) near the mist netting site.
See reports at:
Hong Kong Biodiversity. Issue Number 9. September 2005:
Report to Advisory Council on the Environment (Nature
Conservation Sub-committee) Committee Paper NCSC 2/06:
No comments:
Post a Comment