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South American bat species spotted for first time in over 100 years

The strange big-eared brown bat was discovered in Brazil's Atlantic Forest in 1916 and then apparently vanished - but it has now reappeared in a Brazilian grassland

By Jake Buehler

1 September 2023

Histiotus alienus

The strange big-eared brown bat (Histiotus alienus)

Vinícius C. Cláudio

After more than a century, a missing bat is back. The Brazilian species hadn’t been seen since it was first described by scientists in 1916. But a bat collected by researchers in 2018 appears to be a member of the mysterious species, becoming only the second such specimen known.

In November 2018, Vinícius Cardoso Cláudio, then at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Rio de Janeiro, and his colleagues were conducting a field survey in the Brazilian state of Paraná for the …

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