SENGALTHERI CAVE

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

What possibly consists of a wide mouthed, spacious cave with dark narrow chambers in unspecified rock (laterite?) adjacent to a riverbed at an elevation above 1000 m asl (note 1) reports VANITHARANI (2005a: 7) as a habitat of the rare Salim Ali's fruit bat and edible nest swifts. SITUATION: Somewhere near or within the Kalakad Mundantharai Tiger Reserve in the southern part of the Western Ghats. VANITHARANI (2005a: 7) places Sengaltheri Cave somewhere in certain Kalakad Hills (note 2). MUDAPPA, Divya (2006 in Mammalian Biology / Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde vol. 71, issue 4, 22 July 2006, pages 238-243) positions Sengaltheri at N08°31: 77°26' (unspecified geodetic datum): 800-1250 m asl. POSITIONS: VANITHARANI, MALATHI & ARUL SUNDARI (2005: 13 table) list nine bat species collected from sites called Sengaltheri and Shengaltheri (sic!) at positions (unspecified geodetic datum) near N08°31'55.9”: E77°26'53.2”: 1015.6 m asl (Burmese Whiskered bat Myotis montivagus), N08°32'018”: E77°26'52.6” : 857.7 m asl (Horsefield's bat Myotis horsefieldi), N08°31'55.9”: E77°26'54.1”: 1015.3 m asl (Lesser Woolly Horseshoe bat Rhinolophus beddomei), N08°32'07.6”: E77°26'55.4”: 1083.0 m asl (Lesser Woolly Horseshoe bat Rhinolophus beddomei), N08°32'07.6”: E77°26'55.9”: 1234.4 m asl (Lesser Woolly Horseshoe bat Rhinolophus beddomei), = N08°31'37.7”: E77°26'54.2”: 1010,9 m asl on average. CAVE LIFE: VANITHARANI (2005a: 7) reports from Sengaltheri cave the presence of Salim Ali's bat (Chiroptera: Megachiroptera: Pteropodiae: Latidens salimalii Thonglongya 1972) along with edible nest swifts nesting.8”: E77°26'52.6” : 857.7 m asl (Horsefield's bat Myotis horsefieldi), N08°31'55.9”: E77°26'54.1”: 1015.3 m asl (Lesser Woolly Horseshoe bat Rhinolophus beddomei), N08°32'07.6”: E77°26'55.4”: 1083.0 m asl (Lesser Woolly Horseshoe bat Rhinolophus beddomei), N08°32'07.6”: E77°26'55.9”: 1234.4 m asl (Lesser Woolly Horseshoe bat Rhinolophus beddomei), = N08°31'37.7”: E77°26'54.2”: 1010,9 m asl on average. CAVE LIFE: VANITHARANI (2005a: 7) reports from Sengaltheri cave the presence of Salim Ali's bat (Chiroptera: Megachiroptera: Pteropodiae: Latidens salimalii Thonglongya 1972) along with edible nest swifts nesting.