New bat species discovered in Mozambique

A new bat species was discovered in Gorongosa National Park in central Mozambique, the institution announced today.

A new bat species was discovered in Gorongosa National Park in central Mozambique, the institution announced today.

The discovery was published in the "Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society" by a group led by academies in South Africa, in an article in which the species is named scientific Rhinolophus gorongosae.

The mammal "appears to occur only in the Gorongosa National Park and nearby Mount Mecula," the natural area management said in a statement.

The study uses genetic and morphological techniques to demonstrate that it is a species different from neighbouring populations, having a "mass of only five grams" and thus becoming "in the smallest horseshoe bat in Africa", adds the park.

The article also identified two new bat species (Rhinolophus rhodesiae and Rhinolophus lobatus) in northern Mozambique and other parts of southern Africa, he concludes.

The study raises bat species count in Mozambique to 71, of which 45 live in Gorongosa Park, where in recent years there has been a restoration of wildlife.

After being devastated by the civil war, a public-private partnership between the Government of Mozambique and the Carr Foundation was established in 2008 for the joint management of the park.

The foundation is a US nonprofit organization. In 2016, the Government of Mozambique approved the extension of the partnership for another 25 years.