A genomic analysis suggests that there are probably dozens of unknown species of horseshoe bats in southeast Asia¹.

Horseshoe bats (Rhinolophidae) are considered the reservoir of many zoonotic viruses — which jump from animals to people — including the close relatives of the viruses that caused severe acute respiratory syndrome and COVID-19. Identifying bat species correctly might help pinpoint geographical hotspots with a high risk of zoonotic disease, says Shi Zhengli, a virologist at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. “This work is important,” she says.

The study was published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution on 29 March.

Better identification of unknown bat species could also support the search for the origins of SARS-CoV-2 by narrowing down where to look for bats that may harbour close relatives of the virus, says study co-author Alice Hughes, a conservation biologist at the University of Hong Kong. The closest known relatives of SARS-CoV-2 have been found in Rhinolophus affinis bats in Yunnan province, in southwestern China², and in three species of horseshoe bat in Laos³.

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