RAMANATHAPURAM CAVE

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

There is an unspecified cave, complete with a dark zone, which is occupied by carnivorous bats. SITUATION: At an unknown location, either somewhere within Ramanathapuram district (note 1) or at the town itself (note 2). SITUATION 1998: Both of … two caves Ramanathapuram (C5) and Veerasihamani (C6) are located at a distance of about 140 km in the north [note 3] from Tirunelveli (8°44 N, 77°42' E) (KOILRAJ & MARIMUTHU 1998: 1111). SITUATION 1999: Ramanathapuram cave … [is] at a distance ofabout 140 km from Tirunelveli north (KOILRAJ, MARIMUTHU et al. 1999) and thus at the same spot (more likely: near) the –>Veerasihamani cave. CAVE LIFE: KOILRAJ & MARIMUTHU (1998: 1112 table 2); A certain Mrs. Elizabeth [no name mentioned] reared algae from soil samples collected in the daylight-lit area 0 to 2 m from the entrance: Two species of Chlorophyceae (Chlorococcum sp., Scenedesmus sp.) and one species of Bacillariophyceae (Navicula sp.). KOILRAJ et al (1999): A colony of carnivorous bat Megaerma lyra (Chiroptera) and collected between September 1997 and August 1998 soil samples (bat guano) to investigate it's algae (KOILRAJ & MARIMUTHU 1998) and fungal diversity (KOILRAJ et al. 1999).erma lyra (Chiroptera) and collected between September 1997 and August 1998 soil samples (bat guano) to investigate it's algae (KOILRAJ & MARIMUTHU 1998) and fungal diversity (KOILRAJ et al. 1999).