Name of the Scientist              Dr. Uttam Saikia, Scientist D

Scientist (B/C/D/E/F/G) & Officer-in-Charge (if applicable)

Highest Academic degree, year PhD, 2011

Department/Division               North Eastern Regional Centre, Shillong

Email Address                        uttam.saikia@nic.in, uttamzsi@gmail.com

Phone Number                       8731910286

Area of Expertise                   Small mammalian taxonomy (bats)

Experience after Ph. D.          15 years in various capacities in Zoological Survey of India

Significant Achievements       Described and co-described three new species of bats from India and reported several bat species from India, produced over 50 publications on the mammalian fauna of India including taxonomic revisions and documentations of subterranean fauna in karst rich regions of Meghalaya.   

Mentorship

Research Focus                    1. Systematics of the bat fauna of India especially in the Himalayan region 2. Understanding subterranean faunal diversity (cave fauna)

Significant Publications in the recent years

• Uttam Saikia, Adora Thabah and Manuel Ruedi (2020) Taxonomic and ecological notes on some poorly known bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) from Meghalaya, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 12(3): 15311–15325. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.5264.12.3.15311-15325
• Manuel Ruedi, Uttam Saikia, Adora Thabah, Tamas Gorfol, Sajan Thapa and Gabor Csorba (2021): Morphological and molecular revision of small Myotinae from the Himalayas shed new light in to the poorly known genus Submyotodon (Mammalia: Chiroptera) Mammalian Biology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42991-020-00081-3
• Daniel Harris, Uttam Saikia and Ilona Kharkongor (2021) The biota of Siju cave, Meghalaya, India. A comparison of biological records from 1922 and from 2019. Cave and Karst Science  3 (2020) 119–130.
• Uttam Saikia, Rohit Chakravarty, Vishwanath D. Hegde, Asem Bipin Meetei, Sergei Kruskop, Gabor Csorba & Manuel Ruedi (2021) First record of disk-footed bat, Eudiscopus denticulus (Osgood, 1932) (Chiroptera: Mammalia) from India with notes on its ecology and genetics. Revue Suisse de Zoologie 128(1): 187-198.
• Uttam Saikia, Manuel Ruedi, Rohit Chakravarty and Harish Chandra Chaudhary (2021). Bats of Meghalaya. Forest and Environment Department, Govt of Meghalaya and Zoological Survey of India. 180 pp. ISBN 978-93-5526-583-8
• Uttam Saikia and Manuel Ruedi (2021). The beauties beneath: cave bats of Meghalaya. Resonance Journal of Science Education, Indian Academy of Science 26 (6): 829-840.
• Uttam Saikia, Ruedi, Manuel and Csorba, Gabor (2022) Out of Southeast Asia: a new species of thick-thumbed bat (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae: Glischropus) from Meghalaya, northeastern India. Zootaxa 5154(3):355-364
• Kusuminda, T, Mannakkara, A., Ukuwela, D.B., Kruskop, S., Amarasinghe, C.J., Uttam Saikia, Venugopal, P., Karunarathna, M., Gamage, R., Ruedi, M., Csorba, G., Yapa W. & and Patterson, B. D. (2022) DNA barcoding and morphological analyses reveal a cryptic species of Miniopterus from India and Sri Lanka, Acta Chiropterologica 24(1): 1-17
• Uttam Saikia and Asem Bipin Meetei. (2022)  Diversity, distribution and abundance status of small mammalian fauna (Chiroptera: Rodentia: Eulipotyphla) of Manipur, northeastern India. Journal of Threatened Taxa  14 (9): 21751-21768
• Uttam Saikia, Brian Kharpran Daly and Manuel Ruedi (2023) Caves as priority area for conservation of the lesser known mammalian fauna of Meghalaya, northeastern India. Current Science, 124 (9): 1021-1022
• Ilona Kharkongor, Uttam Saikia, Dimos Khynriam & Bhaskar Saikia (2023). Current status of faunal diversity of Siju cave, South Garo Hills Meghalaya. Records of Zoological Survey of India 123(3): 283-303
• Uttam Saikia (2023). Chiroptera In Banerjee, D. and Kosygin, L. (Editors), Fauna of Assam, State Fauna Series, 27 (2):308-337. (Published by the Director, Zool. Surv. India, Kolkata). ISBN: 978-81-8171-608-8
• Uttam Saikia and Rohit Chakravarty (2024) A preliminary assessment of the bat (Mammalia: Chiroptera) fauna of Murlen National Park, Mizoram: Morphology, distribution and echolocation. Journal of Threatened Taxa 16 (6): 25422-25432
• Feng L, Győrössy D, Portela-Miquez R, Kokkini P, Görföl T, Ali Khan S, Saikia U, Talmale SS, Jiang TL & Csorba G. (2024):  A reassessment of the taxonomic status and distribution of the subspecies of Lyroderma lyra (Chiroptera: Megadermatidae). – Contributions to Zoology DOI: 10.1163/18759866-BJA10073
• Tinku, Das, Jyoti B Dutta, Prasanta Kumar Boro, S. Isloor, S.A. Arif, Aanada Ram Boro & Uttam Saikia (2024). A preliminary study of bat lyssavirus in Assam, India. Indian Journal of Animal Research 58(9): 1543-1549
• Uttam Saikia, Manuel Ruedi and Rohit Chakravarty, (2025). An update on the status of some Data Deficient bat species  Journal of Threatened Taxa 17(4): 26864–26871
• Uttam Saikia, Rohit Chakravarty, Gabor Csorba, Mostaq Ahmed Laskar and Manuel Ruedi (2025) Taxonomic reassessment of bats from Western Himalayas, India with description of a new species of the Myotis frater complex (Mammalia:Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae). Zootaxa Monograph 5644(1)-1-78pp.
• Uttam Saikia, Manuel Ruedi, Rohit Chakravarty, Jennifer Lyngdoh, Amlanjyoti Gautam, Rajib Goswami and Gabor Csorba (2025). A golden jewel: first report of Golden-haired tube-nosed bat Harpiola isodon (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) from India. Zootaxa 5696 (2): 269–278
• Uttam Saikia, Manuel Ruedi, Rohit Chakravarty, Jennifer Lyngdoh, Rajib Goswami and Gabor Csorba (2026) A first country record of Titania’s woolly bat Kerivoula titania (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) from India and notes on its ecology. Animal Taxonomy and Ecology https://doi.org/10.1556/1777.2025.00127
• Chelmala Srinivasulu,. Uttam Saikia,., Bhargavi Srinivasulu and Aditya Srinivasulu A. (2026). Status of Taxonomy of India Bats, 20-27pp. In: R. Chakravarty, B.E. Gulas-Wroblewski, and I. Mandl (Eds) State of India’s Bats Project Team. State of India’s Bats (2024–2025) Report. Nature Conservation Foundation & Bat Conservation International, Bengaluru, India. 208 pp. ISBN 979-8-218-84476-9
• B.R. Ansil, Rohit Chakravarty, Balaji Chattopadhyay, Pratik Das, Nithin Divakar, D. Pilot Dovih, Bonnie E. Gulas-Wroblewski, Priya Hazra, Shraddha Kumari K, Dhanusha Kawalkar, Ram Mohan, Baheerathan Murugavel, Thangsuanlian Naulak, Rahul Prabhukhanolkar, Rajesh Puttaswamaiah, Sreehari Raman, Manchi Shirish S., Kasturi Saha, Uttam Saikia, Tariq Ahmed Shah, Aditya Srinivasulu, Bhargavi Srinivasulu, and Chelmala Srinivasulu (2026). State of India’s Bats Research and Conservation Action Priorities, 178-189p. In: R. Chakravarty, B.E. Gulas-Wroblewski, and I. Mandl (Eds) State of India’s Bats Project Team. State of India’s Bats (2024–2025) Report. Nature Conservation Foundation & Bat Conservation International, Bengaluru, India. 208 pp. ISBN 979-8-218-84476-9
• Rohit Chakravarty, B.R. Ansil, Trisa Bhattacharjee, Balaji Chattopadhyay, Pratik Das, Kadambari Deshpande, Nithin Divakar, D. Pilot Dovih, Shraddha Kumari K, Gagandeep Kaur, Dhanusha Kawalkar, M. Mathivanan, Ram Mohan, Sanjay Molur, Baheerathan Murugavel, Thangsuanlian Naulak, Rahul Prabhukhanolkar, Harish Prakash, Rajesh Puttaswamaiah, Sreehari Raman, Manchi Shirish S., Kasturi Saha, Uttam Saikia, Kalu Ram Senacha, Tariq Ahmed Shah, Bhargavi Srinivasulu, Chelmala Srinivasulu, and Adora Thabah (2026). Threat assessment of India’s Bats, 159-177p. In: R. Chakravarty, B.E. Gulas-Wroblewski, and I. Mandl (Eds) State of India’s Bats Project Team. State of India’s Bats (2024–2025) Report. Nature Conservation Foundation & Bat Conservation International, Bengaluru, India. 208 pp. ISBN 979-8-218-84476-9
• Uttam Saikia, Manuel Ruedi, Thomas Arbenz, Oana Mirela Chachula, Khlur B. Mukhim, Brian Daly and Daniel Harries (2026).  An evaluation of evidence for utilisation of cave habitats by non-flying mammals in Meghalaya, North East India. Cave and Karst Science 53(1): 3-12
•  <!--[endif]-->Bhaskar Saikia, Mostaq A. Laskar, A. Shabanam, Uttam Saikia, Ilona Jacinta Kharkongor, Bikramjit Sinha and K.P. Dinesh (2026). A report of Raorchestes mindat Köhler et al., 2025 (Amphibia: Anura: Rhacophoridae) from Mizoram, India with comments on its phenotypic plasticity. Zootaxa 5796(2): 393-397 https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5796.2.12

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