Scientists find tiny new bat species: Geneva museum

June 24, 2009 The Natural History Museum in Geneva

Enlarge

Scientists have identified a new species of bat weighing just five grammes in the Comoros island archipelago off eastern Africa, the Natural History Museum in Geneva said on Wednesday.

Scientists have identified a new species of bat weighing just five grammes in the Comoros island archipelago off eastern Africa, the Natural History Museum in Geneva said on Wednesday.

Australian, Madagascan, Swiss and US scientists were documenting in the former French colony when they came across the new species, which originates from nearby , the museum said in a statement.

The mammal has been named "Miniopterus aelleni" in honour of the late Villy Aellen, a former head of the Geneva museum and a major bat specialist.

Some 10 new species of mammal have been identified every year since 2000, the museum said.

(c) 2009 AFP


print this article email this article download pdf blog this article bookmark this article     Stumble it Digg this share on Facebook retweet share on Reddit add to delicious
Rate this story - 4 /5 (2 votes)


June 24, 2009 all stories

Comments: 0

4 /5 (2 votes)
  • Stumble this up

  • Digg this

  • share this

  • hide
  • Related Stories

  • New sucker-footed bat discovered in Madagascar
    created Jan 05, 2007 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0
  • New Lemur species named for Field Museum scientist
    created Aug 10, 2005 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0
  • Hippo's island life helps explain dwarf hobbit (w/Video)
    created May 07, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0
  • New species of dwarf buffalo is identified
    created Oct 17, 2006 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0
  • Some bat numbers up in Britain
    created Dec 31, 2006 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0



  • hide
  • Relevant PhysicsForums posts

  • Super quick question about Starling forces?
    created 4 hours ago
  • Questions about diffusion
    created 10 hours ago
  • Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) typing
    created 16 hours ago
  • Breeding program
    created Nov 20, 2009
  • More from Physics Forums - Biology

Other News

The Monarchs' annual migration ritual has yet to be scientifically explained

Tree-eating bugs threaten Monarch butterfly in Mexico

Biology / Ecology

created 17 hours ago | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

The mysterious Monarch butterfly, which migrates en masse annually between Canada and Mexico, is now facing a new peril: another insect thriving in Western Mexican forests.


Bigger not necessarily better, when it comes to brains

Bigger not necessarily better, when it comes to brains

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Nov 17, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (18) | comments 11

(PhysOrg.com) -- Tiny insects could be as intelligent as much bigger animals, despite only having a brain the size of a pinhead, say scientists at Queen Mary, University of London.


Extinct goat Myotragus balearicus

Extinct goat was cold-blooded

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Nov 18, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (33) | comments 10

(PhysOrg.com) -- An extinct goat that lived on a barren Mediterranean island survived for millions of years by reducing in size and by becoming cold-blooded, which has never before been discovered in mammals.


Right-handed chimpanzees provide clues to the origin of human language

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Nov 16, 2009 | popularity 3 / 5 (1) | comments 7

Most of the linguistic functions in humans are controlled by the left cerebral hemisphere. A study of captive chimpanzees at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center (Atlanta, Georgia), reported in the January 2010 issue ...


The creature was found at a depth of 161 metres

Japanese researchers film rare baby fish 'fossil'

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Nov 17, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (7) | comments 4

Japanese marine researchers said Tuesday they had found and successfully filmed a young coelacanth -- a rare type of fish known as "a living fossil" -- in deep water off Indonesia.