Bats of Bangladesh — A systematic review of the diversity and distribution with recommendations for future research

Bangladesh is a South Asian country located at the crossroads of the Indochina and Indo-Himalayan subregions, making it a country of rich faunal diversity. Bangladesh's high population density paired with rapid habitat alteration leaving only 6% of its natural habitats threatens its faunal diversity. Over 1,455 bat species live on earth, providing immense ecological services to maintain biodiversity. The paucity of bat research in Bangladesh and the lack of comprehensive work has led us to set the goal of checking how many species are present in Bangladesh, and the possibility of bat species yet to have occurred. Here we compiled species occurrence data on the bats of Bangladesh and states in neighboring countries (India – states are West Bengal, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Assam, Tripura, Mizoram; Myanmar – states are Chin, Rakhine) from the museums (American Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Natural History Museum at United Kingdom, Field Museum of Natu...