Salim Ali's fruit bat is a rare megabat

Megabat

Megabats constitute the suborder Megachiroptera, family Pteropodidae of the order Chiroptera . They are also called fruit bats, old world fruit bats, or flying foxes.-Description:...

 species in the monotypic

Monotypic

In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...

 genus Latidens.

It was first collected by Angus Hutton, a planter and naturalist

Naturalist

Naturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...

 in the High Wavy Mountains

Meghamalai

Meghamalai, popularly called High Wavy Mountains, is a cool and misty mountain range situated in the Western Ghats in Theni district, Tamilnadu, South India. It is a place of natural beauty dotted with cardamom plantations and tea estates. The place is situated at an elevation of 1,500 m above sea...

 in the western ghats

Western Ghats

The Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...

 of Theni district

Theni District

Theni District is a district of Tamil Nadu state in South India. The city of Theni is the district headquarters. The district is divided into two natural divisions: The hilly areas constituted by parts of the three taluks Periyakulam, Uthamapalayam and Andipatti with thick vegetation and...

, Tamilnadu in South India

South India

South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...

 in 1948.

It was originally misidentified as a short-nosed fruit bat

Fruit Bat

Fruit Bat can refer to:* Megabats, a species of bat which eats fruit* Les "Fruitbat" Carter, guitarist of Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine* Fruit Bats , an American band...

 (Cynopterus) but later identified by Kitti Thonglongya

Kitti Thonglongya

Kitti Thonglongya was an eminent Thai ornithologist and mammalogist. He is probably best known for two discoveries of endangered species.-Life:...

 as a new species and was named after India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n ornithologist Salim Ali

Salim Ali (ornithologist)

Sálim Moizuddin Abdul Ali was an Indian ornithologist and naturalist. Known as the "birdman of India", Salim Ali was among the first Indians to conduct systematic bird surveys across India and his bird books helped develop ornithology...

 in 1972.

This bat is listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN.

Description

It is medium sized and has no external tail

Tail

The tail is the section at the rear end of an animal's body; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage to the torso. It is the part of the body that corresponds roughly to the sacrum and coccyx in mammals, reptiles, and birds...

. Ears are oval with rounded tips. The head is covered by blackish brown fur and the wing is light brown in colour and the underparts are light grey-brown with the brown wing membrane (Patagium

Patagium

*In bats, the skin forming the surface of the wing. It is an extension of the skin of the abdomen that runs to the tip of each digit, uniting the forelimb with the body.*The patagium of a bat has four distinct parts:...

) hairless. It has fifteen palatal ridges. The beak rostrum

Rostrum (anatomy)

The term rostrum is used for a number of unrelated structures in different groups of animals:*In crustaceans, the rostrum is the forward extension of the carapace in front of the eyes....

 is long and narrow and the palate is very long especially postdental portion. Post orbital foramina are absent. Incisor

Incisor

Incisors are the first kind of tooth in heterodont mammals. They are located in the premaxilla above and mandible below.-Function:...

s 1 pair and peg like, cheek teeth brad. First premolar

Premolar

The premolar teeth or bicuspids are transitional teeth located between the canine and molar teeth. In humans, there are two premolars per quadrant, making eight premolars total in the mouth. They have at least two cusps. Premolars can be considered as a 'transitional tooth' during chewing, or...

s are very small and slightly exceeds the incisors in the crown area. Body length is 10 cm, hindfeet 0.8-1.5 cm, forearm 6.6 cm.

It was observed that these bats eat fresh fruits of, Elaeocarpus oblongus

Elaeocarpus

Elaeocarpus is a genus of tropical and subtropical evergreen trees and shrubs. The approximately 350 species are distributed from Madagascar in the west through India, Southeast Asia, Malaysia, southern China, and Japan, through Australia to New Zealand, Fiji, and Hawaii in the east. The islands of...

(Rudraksh or bead tree) and the figs: Ficus glomerata (Cluster fig), Ficus macrocarpa (Indian Laurel Fig) and Ficus beddomei (Thavital, a Strangler fig

Strangler Fig

Strangler fig is the common name for a number of tropical and subtropical plant species, including some banyans and unrelated vines, including among many other species:* Ficus aurea, also known as the Florida Strangler Fig...

).

Range

The first description of the bat was from a single specimen collected at an altitude of 750 meters in the High Wavy Mountains of the Annamalai Western Ghats

Western Ghats

The Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...

, Theni district, Tamilnadu, South India.

In 2002 the Indian government added the Wroughton's free-tailed bat

Wroughton's Free-tailed Bat

The Wroughton's free-tailed bat is a free-tailed bat formerly considered to be confined to the Western Ghats area of India, though it has also recently been discovered in Northeast India and in a remote part of Cambodia...

 (Otomops wroughtonii) and Salim Ali's fruit bat (Latidens salimalii) to Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act

Wildlife Protection Act of 1972

The Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 refers to a sweeping package of legislation enacted in 1972 by the Government of India. Before 1972, India only had five designated national parks...

, affording these two species the highest level of protection. The other 112 species of bats in India were not affected.

In 2004 an increase in recorded numbers and distribution of the taxon called into question the validity of the current classification and suggests that Latidens salimalii be reclassified as Endangered.
In recent studies explained that it is reported from Wesatern Ghats of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In Tamil Nadu it is in the following places.
Therkumalai estate, Courtallam Hills, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India
Nagapodigai Cave,Agasthiyar hills region, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India
Vedumbukal cave, Servalar Hills, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India
Sengaltheri cave, Kalakad Hills, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India
Ambalam cave, Agasthiyar hills, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India
Peedam cave, Agasthiyar hills, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India
Arangadu Cave, Kothiyar hills, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India
Pls refer the following link.http://www.zoosprint.org/ZoosPrintNewsLetter/bat%20newsletter%20jan%2005.pdf