The objective of this project is two fold; firstly, it is attempting to resolve important questions about the taxonomy of Rhinolophus philippinensis, which occurs in two observed size morphs throughout its range, and to determine the relationship of these bats to two other species of Rhinolophus found on Buton Island. The status of R. philippinensis is at issue due to the discrete nature of the two size morphs as observed on Buton, the large morph, having forearm length (FA) 55.3-57.5mm, and weight (W) 11.0-12.0g, with the small morph being FA 47.3-50.3mm and W 6.0-8.5g. This data comes from individuals caught over two summers, 2000 and 2001, the number of individuals so far caught on Buton Island and included in the study are 4 large and 7 small individuals, which gives a sensible amount of data for the genetic analysis. The number of individuals may change as the season continues, as the trapping program will be on going until 25^th August. A similar question has been raised and addressed about rhinolophid bats in Australia (Cooper et al. 1998) which, in agreement with preliminary analysis of the tissue obtained in 2000 suggest that the morphs of R. philippinensis is one species, or a species in the process of diverging. To clarify this issue, a greater number of genes than used for the preliminary analysis will be sequenced and compared. Further to the genetic work, radio tracking is being used to locate roost sites, allowing greater numbers of individuals to be sampled. Echolocation calls are being recorded, as they are highly specific, and primarily pure-tone frequencies used for both foraging and communication, e.g. mate recognition. If the frequencies vary greatly between the morphs, this may therefore facilitate reproductive isolation, a key mechanism to speciation processes.

The second objective involves the Sulawesi Naked Bat, Cheiromeles parvidens which has been suggested to be conspecific with Cheiromeles torquatus, found in Malaysia however the three individuals of C. parvidens (FA 69.4-72.4; W 73.0-99.0g) are significantly smaller than representatives of C. torquatus (FA 78.1-86.2; W 155.0-185.0g) This size difference indicates that these may indeed be two species, but genetic testing will allow this to be determined more completely. A phylogeny for these species, along with Tadarida sarasinorum, an insectivorous bat found foraging along the same river as C. parvidens will also be produced, as these bats are all of the family Molossidae.

1. To establish the taxonomic status of the two morphs of Rhinolophus philippinensis.
2. To generate a phylogeny for the rhinolophid bats so far recorded at Labundo Bundo (Buton Island).
3. To determine the taxonomic status of Cheiromeles parvidens, as it relates to Cheiromeles torquatus.

With respect to the Rhinolophus species, trapping was undertaken using four bank Harp Traps on trails within the Kakenauwe Reserve on Buton Island. This has consisted of three hundred and fifty harp trap night. The traps were checked twice daily (morning and evening), and moved once daily, after the morning check. All bats, irrespective of species were processed in the same way, with species, age, sex, reproductive condition, forearm length and weight being reported. In addition, wing membrane biopsies were taken, usually in the form of a triangle of side 4-7mm, and stored in 100% ethanol. The bats were then returned to the forest, and released at the site at which they were caught on the next occasion when the traps were checked. The Rhinolophus philippinensis individuals so far caught this season (two large morph, one small morph) have been used in attempts at radio tracking. To each bat a radio transmitter was fixed before release, it was then attempted to locate the roost site for these bats, by monitoring the tag frequencies to look for emergence at dusk and disappearance at sunrise. To aid with triangulation, between one and three receiver sets were used in the field at any one time. Tracking was performed twice daily, for the ten-day battery life of each tag.

Cheiromeles parvidens was caught using mist nets on Umala Dongkula river, Buton Island. This was performed on fifteen occasions, and one member of the species was caught, in addition to large numbers of fruit bats and Tadarida sarasinorum along with members of four other species. These bats were processed as above and released at the site of capture at dusk on the following evening.

In order to perform the phylogenetic work, on returning to the U.K. the tissue biopsies will be used for DNA extraction. Tissue will be digested with proteinase K, and DNA will be precipitated following a standard salt-chloroform extraction protocol. Approximately 500 base-pairs of 2 mitochondrial genes (cytochrome b and D-loop) will be amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using an automated sequencer. For phylogenetic analysis, sequence divergence will be quantified among all individuals. Levels of intra- and inter-morph sequence divergence will be compared using a custom-written computer program.

Radio tracking of the two larger specimens of R. philippinensis revealed a larger home-range size than initially anticipated. This meant that the roost was not located before the batteries of the transmitters expired, however a core-area of activity was identified, which is likely to include the colony site. It is anticipated that radio tracking of additional individuals will result in successful roost discovery. Preliminary genetic analysis, based on the first 1033 base pairs of the ND2 gene, using individuals from work in the summer of 2000, revealed that some inter-morph differences (1.55 – 3.0%) barely exceeded intra-morph divergence (1.45%).

A final report entitled: Resolving taxonomic issues in Rhinolophus philippinensis and Cheiromeles parvidens, was produced in May 2002 by Martin Adams, Queen Mary & Westfield College, University of London.  This dissertation received a First