A new species of Kerivoula (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) from peninsular Malaysia

Until recently, bats of the genus Kerivoula in Southeast Asia were relatively poorly known, with most species recorded from relatively few specimens (Corbet and Hill, 1992). However, recent use of harp traps (Francis, 1989) has shown that many species of Kerivoula are, in fact, relatively common in the forest understorey in Southeast Asia (Francis, 1990; Francis et al., 1999; Kingston et al., 1999; Kingston et al., 2003). Their rarity in previous collections was likely due to a combination of the difficulty of capturing them in mist nets owing to their small size, manoeuvrability and echolocation signal design, as well as their tendency to roost alone or in small groups in trees, making them hard to find at roost. With greatly increased capture rates, it is perhaps not surprising that new discoveries are also being made throughout Southeast Asia. These include a new species from Myanmar, Kerivoula kachinensis (Bates et al., 2004), as well as the recognition of K. lenis Thomas 1916 as a species distinct from, but frequently sympatric with, K. papillosa Temminck 1840 (Vanitharani et al., 2003). During field work at Kuala Lompat in the Krau Wildlife Reserve, peninsular Malaysia, one of us (CMF) captured a distinctive coloured Kerivoula in October 1991. This specimen was submitted to John Edwards Hill, at the British Museum (Natural Acta Chiropterologica, 9(1): 1–12, 2007 PL ISSN 1508-1109 © Museum and Institute of Zoology PAS