From Bioko Island in Equatorial Guinea, researchers have described what is officially recognized as the 1,500th bat species known to science, according to a recent study. The newly described bat is a species of pipistrelle, a group of tiny insect-eating bats, and scientists have named it Pipistrellus etula, with etula meaning “island” or “nation” in the language of the Bubi people of Bioko Island. “The recognition of P. etula as the 1,500th bat species is not only a symbolic scientific milestone but also carries deep conservation significance,” lead author Laura Torrent, a Ph.D. candidate at the Natural Sciences Museum of Granollers, Spain, told Mongabay by email. “It reminds us how much biodiversity remains undocumented, particularly in under-surveyed regions like Central Africa.” The story of P. etula goes back to 1989, when bat researcher Javier Juste first captured a few individuals of the bat from the montane forest on the slopes of Biao Peak, a volcano on Bioko. At the time, Juste suspected it was an undescribed species, but confirmation would take decades. During a 2024 expedition, Torrent and her colleagues captured more individuals of what looked like the same bat at Basilé Peak, another volcano on Bioko. The scientists compared the newly caught bats with the older museum specimens and found they had similar physical features. A genetic analysis of both the old and newly caught bats further confirmed they all belong to the same new-to-science species. P. etula belongs to a widespread group of bats called vesper, or evening,…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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