Summary
The lack of an identifiable intermediate host species for the proximal animal ancestor of SARS-CoV-2 and the distance (~1500 km) from Wuhan to Yunnan province, where the closest evolutionary related coronaviruses circulating in horseshoe bats have been identified, is fueling speculation on the natural origins of SARS-CoV-2. Here we analyse SARS-CoV-2’s related bat and pangolin Sarbecoviruses and confirm horseshoe bats, Rhinolophus, are the likely true reservoir species as their host ranges extend across Central and Southern China, and into Southeast Asia. This would explain the bat Sarbecovirus recombinants in the West and East China, trafficked pangolin infections and bat Sarbecovirus recombinants linked to Southern China, and the recently reported bat Sarbecovirses in Cambodia and Thailand. Some horseshoe bat species, such as R. affinis seem to play a more significant role in virus spread as they have larger ranges. Recent ecological disturbances as a result of changes in meat sources could explain SARS-CoV-2 transmission to humans through direct or indirect contact with infected wildlife, and subsequent emergence towards Hubei in Central China. The only way, however, of finding the animal progenitor of SARS-CoV-2 as well as the whereabouts of its close relatives, very likely capable of posing a similar threat of emergence in the human population and other animals, will be by (carefully) increasing the intensity of our sampling.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Footnotes
Author affiliation error corrected and some minor parts of the main text updated.
