CHICAGO, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- The discovery of a new species of sucker-footed bat in Madagascar means the bat family is no longer endangered, U.S. scientists said.
The species, Myzopoda schliemanni, was found only in the dry western forests of Madagascar, Field Museum researchers said. The previously known species, Myzopoda aurita, occurs in the island's humid eastern forests.
Myzopoda were considered endangered because of their limited distribution and the belief that only one species existed. This species is often found with broad-leaf plants because they can climb and attach themselves to the flat, smooth leaves, researchers said.
The researchers determined that Myzopoda was not endangered by the loss of the moist tropical forests on Madagascar because it apparently adapted to the broad-leaf Ravenala plants that often show up where original forests were cleared and burned.
"For now, we do not have to worry as much about the future of Myzopoda," said Steven Goodman, Field Museum field biologist and lead author of the study. "It is able to live in areas that have been completely degraded, contrary to what is indicated or inferred in the current literature."
The research was published online in the journal Mammalian Biology.
