Orcha Undergrounds

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

Underground recesses of deserted palaces (BROSSET (1962b: 26) or undergrounds of the deserted palace of the Maharaja (BROSSET 1962a: 39) are the home of bats (Chiroptera) at an unspecified location in the town or the state of Orcha (Orchha) N25°21': E078°39' (nima.mil/geonames accessed 16.11.2003). GEOLOGY: IMPERIAL GAZETTEER )1907-1909, 19: 242): The state of Orcha lies wholly in the area of the Bundelkhand gneiss, a hard greyish-pink granitoidal rock, of simple composition, traversed by conspicuous quartz reefs, which constitute an integral part of this formation and almost invariably strike in a north-easterly direction. A number of basaltic dikes strike approximately north-west, at right angles to these reefs. These dikes are probably disintegrated representatives of the volcanic rocks of the Bijawar series. CAVE LIFE - bats (Chiroptera): BROSSET (1962b: 26 table): Rhinopoma hardwickei Gray 1831 were seen at Orcha in March (1959 or 1960?) associated with Rhinopoma microphyllumBrunnich 1782. BROSSET (1962a: 39 table, 42): Emballonuridae: Taphozous melanopogon Temminck 1841 (black-bearded tomb bat) were seen at Orcha in March (1959 or 1960?) in two colonies (2000 or 3000) in rooms and undergrounds of the deserted palace of the Maharaja in association with Rhinopoma hardwickei Gray 1831.