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UFS biologists discover new tiny, white-thumbed bat species from Eswatini

13 October 2022 | Story NONSINDISO QWABE | Photo Rio Button

The Lowveld serotine bat, named Neoromicia hlandzeni.

Biological expeditions to the unexplored central highlands of Angola between 2016 and 2019 led to the discovery of a new tiny, white-thumbed bat species from Eswatini by Prof Peter John Taylor from the UFS Department of Zoology and Entomology and the Afromontane Research Unit (ARU), together with colleagues from the University of Eswatini (UNESWA) and other collaborators.

The bat species, named Neoromicia hlandzeni or the Lowveld serotine bat – after the Lowveld of Eswatini (eHlandzeni) – is the first new animal species to be discovered in Eswatini and given a siSwati name. The Lowveld serotine bat is tiny at four grams, has a distinctive white thumb pad, and occurs in Eswatini, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique.

Bats make up a quarter of all mammalian biodiversity. With modern technology and the exploration of previously inaccessible regions of Africa, the rate of discovery of both animal and plant species is accelerating.

According to Prof Taylor, the Lowveld serotine bat is a new species to science. The specimen from which the species was named was collected in the lowlands of Eswatini in 2005. “Later collections of bats from the highlands of Angola, undertaken by myself and students, revealed the fact that the highland and lowland forms were actually different species. Since there was already a name for the highland bat, we needed to find a new name for the lowland bat from Eswatini and South Africa, hence it is called the Lowveld serotine bat,” he said.

The importance of integrative taxonomy, local collaboration, and biodiversity surveys

Prof Taylor is a research fellow of the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project, and the bat discovery took place during expeditions under the patronage of the Angolan government, the Wild Bird Trust, and the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project. He said the aim of the expedition was to explore the plants and animals of a wilderness area (the source of the Okavango) that had not been explored before.

The discovery also led to their paper being published in the scientific journal, the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, this month.

The publication, titled Integrative taxonomic analysis of new collections from the central Angolan highlands resolves the taxonomy of African pipistrelloid bats on a continental scale, showcases the importance of integrative taxonomy, local collaboration, and biodiversity surveys, as the description of this exciting new species would not have been possible without comparative genetic and morphological material from new collections in the poorly sampled central highlands of Angola.

Prof Peter Taylor with his students, Veli Mdluli and Alexandra Howard, working on bat research. Howard was one of the co-authors of the paper. (Photo: Supplied)

Afromontane regions as hotspots of bat speciation, diversity, and micro-endemism

Although Prof Taylor is the first author to describe this new species, the work was done with a multidisciplinary team of colleagues, students, and collaborators from the UFS, UNESWA, the University of Pretoria, the University of Venda, and Stellenbosch University, as well as the Durban Natural Science Museum and the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, with support from the Angolan government, the Wild Bird Trust, and the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project.

“Describing a new species is an arduous task that can take years from discovery to publication. All the enormous collective efforts have shown the importance of collaborative biodiversity exploration using old and modern technologies, as well as the African ownership of this discovery,” Prof Taylor said.

Three of Prof Taylor's previous and current PhD students – all of them South African women – were part of this discovery process and are co-authors of the paper. All 14 co-authors in the team are African. Prof Taylor said the discovery adds a new species to the total bat list of 125 species for Southern Africa – at number 126.

News Archive

UFS receives R13,7 Million for Research into Prehistoric Organisms

2007-03-27

Some of the guests attending the launch of the research contract are: Dr Siyabulela Ntutela (Deputy Director: Biotechnology at the Department of Science and Technology), Dr Godfrey Netswera (Manager of Thuthuka and the Support Programme at the National Research Foundation (NRF)), Dr Esta van Heerden (Platform Manager and lecturer at the Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology at the UFS), Mr Butana Mboniswa (Chief Executive Officer of BioPAD), and Mr Vuyisele Phehani (Portfolio Manager for BioPAD).
Photo: Leonie Bolleurs

The University of the Free State (UFS) has been awarded a massive R13,7 million contract to conduct research into prehistoric micro-organisms which live under extreme conditions, for example in mineshafts.

This is one of the biggest research contracts awarded to the UFS in recent years.

The biotechnology research contract was awarded to the UFS by BioPAD, a South African biotechnology company that brokers partnerships between researchers, entrepreneurs, business, government and other stakeholders to promote innovation and create sustainable biotechnology businesses.

The project is endorsed by the Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation (NRF), which contributes to the bursaries of the 17 postgraduate students on the programme.

The contract involves the establishment of a Platform for Metagenomics - a technique which allows researchers to extract the DNA from microbes in their natural environment and investigate it in a laboratory.

“Through this platform we will be able to understand deepmine microbial populations
and their potential application in the search for life in outer space. It is most likely
that, if life were to be found on other planets in our solar system, it would probably
resemble that which existed millions of years ago on earth. Apart from all this, these
organisms have unique properties one can exploit in biotechnological application for
South Africa and its community,” said Dr Esta van Heerden, platform manager and
lecturer at the UFS Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology.
She is assisted by her collegues, Prof. Derek Litthauer and Dr Lizelle Piater.

“The platform aims to tap into the unique genetic material in South African mines
which will lead to the discovery of new genes and their products. These new and unique products will find application in the medical field (anti-cancer, anti-bacterial en anti-viral cures), the industrial sector (nanotechnology, commercial washing agents and the food industry), environmental sector (pollution management, demolition of harmful metals and other toxic waste),” said Dr Van Heerden.

According to Dr Van Heerden, the Metagenomics Platforms stems from the Life in
Extreme Environments (LExEN) programme which was started in 1994 by Princeton
University in the United States of America (USA) in South African mines with grants
from among others the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and
the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the USA. Other international collaborators
on the project include Geosynec Consultants Inc. (USA), Oak Ridge National
Laboratory (USA), the University of Tennessee (USA) and in South Africa the
Universities of the Witwatersrand, North West and Limpopo and companies like BHP
Billiton, MINTEK and mining companies like Harmony, Gold Fields and AngloGold
Ashanti.

The research field laboratory of the Metagenomics Platform, which was situated in
Glen Harvey, was moved to the Main Campus of the UFS in Bloemfontein. “In this
way the university has become the central hub for all research programmes. We are
also the liaison between the LExEN programme and the various mining companies
involved,” said Dr Van Heerden. The new laboratory was introduced during the
launch of the research contract.

“Our decision to commit BioPAD to this project stems from the company’s commitment to advance human capacity development to strengthen South Africa’s research infrastructure. It is also part of our aim to create and protect intellectual property,” said Mr Butana Mboniswa, Chief Executive Officer of BioPAD.

Talking on behalf of the UFS senior management, Prof. Teuns Verschoor, Vice-Rector
of Academic Operations, said that the university shares the excitement to be part of
the exploration of unknown forms of life, the discovery of new genes and
their products and in applying newly gained knowledge to better understand our
universe.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl@ufs.ac.za
27 March 2007

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