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  Yahoo News 16 Sep 07
New bat species discovered in Philippines

PlanetArk 17 Sep 07
Philippines Finds New Breed of Flying Fox

MANILA - A colourful new breed of flying fox with orange fur and three white stripes on its face has been discovered on the Philippine island of Mindoro, the government said on Sunday.

Flying foxes are a type of fruit bat. They are named flying foxes because of their fox-like heads and reddish fur.

The tropical archipelago in Southeast Asia is a treasure trove for flora and fauna. Last year, a brightly-plumed parrot and a long-tailed forest mouse were discovered in the vanishing rainforest of a southern volcanic island.

A team from the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the University of Kansas confirmed the flying fox discovery during an expedition to Mindoro, south of Manila, last year.

"A local resident of Sablayan (town) first described the flying fox in great detail to us, but we were unconvinced until the species showed up in our nets," said zoologist Jake Esselstyn.

The flying fox, which researchers believe could be unique to the Philippines, has been named the Mindoro Fruitbat.

The scientific description of the new flying fox was published in the Journal of Mammalogy.

"This discovery is illustrative of how little we know about Philippine biodiversity and the need for continued research all over the country," said Mundita Lim, chief of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau of the DENR.

Yahoo News 16 Sep 07
New bat species discovered in Philippines

A new species of flying fox or fruit bat has been discovered on an island south of Manila, it was reported Monday.

The orange-coloured bat with a distinctive white-stripped face was discovered in a protected wildlife area on Mindoro Island, the Philippine Star newspaper said quoting the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

The discovery was a result of joint research between the University of Kansas' Biodiversity Research Center and a team from the Comparative Biogeography and Conservation of Philippine Vertebrates (CBCPV), the paper said.

Known as the Mindoro Stripe-Faced Fruitbat for its striking facial features the bat was discovered by accident when it was caught in a net set by the researchers.

One of the Filipino researchers, Jake Esselstyn, told the paper that the bat was found during a survey of mammals, reptiles, and amphibians in Sablayan region on the west coast of the island.

Details of the finding were published last week in the Journal of Mammalogy.

The discovery of the new fruit bat species brings the number of bat species in the Philippines to 74 with 26 unique to the Philippines, the paper said.
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