RISTOLAS (France) Feb 10: A new species of bat, dubbed the Alpine long-eared bat, was discovered in 2001 in a nature preserve in southeastern France, the forest ranger responsible for the find said on Sunday.

Research conducted since Philippe Favre’s discovery has confirmed the presence of the new species in most mountainous regions of Europe at altitudes of more than 1,000 meters, including in the Balkans, he said.

On August 24, 2001, Favre accidentally discovered the bat when he hit one with his car, while travelling to Ristolas to take inventory of the different species living in the Queyras regional nature preserve.

He took the dead mammal for analysis to the University of Mainz in western Germany, where researcher Andreas Kiefer used genetic tests to determine that it was a never-before-seen species of long-eared bat.

The carcass of the tiny bat, known as Plecotus alpinus, is now on display in a museum in Mainz.

“We can expect other discoveries of this type,” said Jean-Francois Noblet, an environmental expert for the regional government in the Alpine department of Isere.

“Before, we used to determine if an animal belonged to a particular species by its morphology — we measured the length of its ears, the shape of its teeth. Today, we’ve discovered through DNA analysis that animals once believed to be part of a unique species actually belong to different species,” he said.—AFP