CONAKRY, REPUBLIC OF GUINEA, 18 January 2021 – SMFG welcomes the news of the discovery of a new species of bat, Myotis nimbaensis, found in the abandoned exploration tunnels dug in the 1970s and 1980s in the Nimba Mountains’ mining concession. It was published in the American Museum Novitates on 13 January 2021, available here.

The discovery is the result of collaboration between SMFG and Bat Conservation International (BCI) to study and identify ways to conserve the bats of the Nimba Mountains, and in particular threatened species like Lamotte’s roundleaf bat (Hipposideros lamottei), many of which live in the mining tunnels which are collapsing. Planning began in 2014 between SMFG and BCI, and fieldwork began in mid-2016 with the deployment of ultrasonic recording devices to record the calls of bats using the tunnels.

When BCI conducted its first field visit, in January 2018, no one could have predicted the discovery of a new species. Thanks to the library of bats’ calls established since 2016, two year-round roosts of M. nimbaensis’s were identified, as well as seasonal uses of other tunnels. These tunnels were investigated using a remotely-operated vehicle to understand their dimensions, internal structure, humidity, temperature and locations of roosts from the entrance, as described here. Based on this, BCI has identified the conditions that H. lamottei and M. nimbaensis appear to favour.

As of early 2021, SMFG has geotechnical advisors deployed at Nimba who are advising a drilling programme to understand the geotechnical appropriateness of locations where new tunnels could be dug, designed specifically to be long-term habitat for bats with the conditions recommended by BCI.

As steward of these bats inhabiting the failing mine tunnels, and in partnership with BCI, SMFG seeks to ensure the long-term survival and hopefully increase of M. nimbaensis and Lamotte’s roundleaf bat.