News

Oman
Office for Conservation of the Environment – Diwan of Royal Court, Muscat

Key Personnel

Dr. Andrew Spalton, Wildlife Biologist
Through the ‘Bats & Coronaviruses’ project, Dr. Andrew Spalton and his team from the Office for Conservation of the Environment (OCE) collaborate with WAB-Net partners to characterize the diversity of bats and bat-borne coronaviruses (CoVs) in Oman, and test key hypotheses about bat-borne zoonotic virus emergence risk within Western Asia. As part of this project, Dr. Spalton and his team have received training in best practices for bat sampling and biosafety (for additional details, see our discussion of ‘Field Training’ here), and are actively capturing bats and collecting non-lethal diagnostic samples at multiple sites in Oman. As a wildlife biologist, Dr. Spalton serves as an invaluable member of WAB-Net, and is able to leverage his 30+ years of studying mammalian biology in Oman to improve field sampling efforts and our understanding of bat species native to the country.
Bats of Oman: (26 species)
Emballonuridae
- Coleura gallarum (NE)
- Taphozous nudiventris (LC)
- Taphozous perforatus (LC)
Molossidae
- Tadarida aegyptiaca* (LC)
Pteropodidae
- Eidolon helvum (NT)
- Rousettus aegyptiacus (LC)
Hipposideridae
- Asellia arabica (DD)
- Asellia tridens (LC)
Nycteridae
- Nycteris thebaica (LC)
Rhinolophidae
- Rhinolophus blasii (LC)
- Rhinolophus clivosus (LC)
- Rhinolophus hipposideros (LC)
Rhinonycteridae
- Triaenops parvus (DD)
- Triaenops persicus (LC)
Rhinopomatidae
- Rhinopoma cystops (LC)
- Rhinopoma microphyllum (LC)
- Rhinopoma muscatellum (LC)
Vespertilionidae
- Eptesicus bottae (LC)
- Myotis emarginatus (LC)
- Nyctalus noctula (LC)
- Otonycteris hemprichii (LC)
- Pipistrellus arabicus (DD)
- Pipistrellus ariel (DD)
- Pipistrellus dhofarensis (DD)
- Pipistrellus kuhlii (LC)
- Rhyneptesicus nasutus (LC)
Species occurrence & conservation status based on IUCN Red List, and updated by Dr. Andrew Spalton.
* undergoing taxonomic revision