India, June 8 -- The latest edition of the scientific journal Zootaxa reports the discovery of a new bat species - the Himalayan long-tailed Myotis (Myotis himalaicus) - in the Himalayan region, and corrects a long-standing error in Indian scientific literature by confirming that the East Asian free-tailed bat (Tadarida insignis), not the European species, is found in India.

The tally of Indian bat species currently stands at 135 species, according to the journal published on Thursday.

The Himalayan long-tailed Myotis belongs to the Myotis frater complex - a group of morphologically similar bats found across a wide range, including eastern China, Taiwan, central and southeastern Siberia, Korea, Japan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, the jou...