Abstract
Echolocation acoustic signature identification is an ideal non-invasive
field survey method for chiropteran diversity. Located in the far
easternmost region of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region where covers
one sixth of China’s land territory, Komul city includes a variety of
landscapes, including typical mountains, plateaus, plains, and the Gobi
Desert, which is home to a number of terrestrial animals. By gathering
bat echo sound waves between July and September 2022 and during April
2023, we investigated bat species diversity in Komul, Xinjiang, China.
As a result, we identified a total of 24 species of bats belonging to
two families and ten genera, of which Myotis is the dominant
genus with seven species, followed by Pipistrellus with four
species, and both Eptesicus and Nyctalus come after with
three species. 16 of these species are novel to Xinjiang. The
altitudinal distribution of these species is 500m to 2200m above sea
level, and their horizontal distribution includes most of the surveyed
region, e.g., Barkol Kazakh Autonomous County, Arturk County, and
Ivirghul District. From a conservation perspective, three species
(Miniopterus schreibersii、Myotis capaccinii and
Nyctalus lasiopterus) and two species (Barbastella
barbatellus and Myotis dasycneme) are listed as “vulnerable”
and “near threatened” in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species,
respectively. Rest of which are of least concern. Our findings provide a
valuable reference for future ecological, genetic, and conservational
studies of bats in China, especially in Xinjiang.