Covid-19: bat species must be clearly defined if scientists are to trace virus origins, researchers say
- Researchers with Chinese Academy of Sciences and HKU propose method to measure bats’ distinctive nose-leaves to accurately define species
- Biologist says using traits to identify species will help track the virus spillover from one species to another ‘and where we might expect to have it again’
There are more than a 100 species identified within the horseshoe, or rhinolophidae family of bats, and some have been linked to several zoonotic viruses, including the Sars coronavirus.
The family gets its common name from the shape of its nose-leaves, the skin growths on many species of bats. Scientists believe the nose-leaves are used for echolocation, or using sound waves to find things around them.
But around 40 per cent of Asian rhinolophid species are potentially “cryptic” – apparently identical but genetically distinct – and have not been formally described, according to researchers who have proposed a new framework to measure these nose-leaf traits to better identify species.
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Researchers in mainland China and Hong Kong said they identified 44 potentially cryptic species within 11 known species in Southeast Asia and South China, “highlighting the need for further work to describe species across the region and better understand their cryptic diversity”.