| Publication Type: | Journal Article |
| Year of Publication: | 2008 |
| Authors: | P. Benda, Dietz, C., Andreas, M., Hotový, J., Lučan, R. K., Maltby, A., Meakin, K., Truscott, J., Vallo, P. |
| Journal: | Acta Soc. Zool. Bohem. |
| Volume: | 72 |
| Pagination: | 1-103 |
| Date Published: | 2008 |
| Keywords: | Arabia, Asellia tridens, Barbastella leucomelas, Chiroptera, diet, distribution, echolocation, ecology, Emballonuridae, Eptesicus bottae, Hipposideridae, Hypsugo ariel, Mammalia, Middle East, Molossidae, North Africa, Nycteridae, Nycteris thebaica, Otonycteris hemprichii, Palaearctic, Pipistrellus kuhlii, Plecotus christii petraeus ssp. nov. Benda, Pteropodidae, Rhinolophidae, Rhinolophus clivosus, Rhinolophus hipposideros, Rhinolophus mehelyi, Rhinopoma cystops, Rhinopomatidae, Rousettus aegyptiacus, Tadarida teniotis, Taphozous perforatus, taxonomy, Vespertilionidae |
| Abstract: | A complete list of bat records from Sinai was compiled, composed mostly of new findings from the field (85%). From the territory of Sinaitic peninsula, 106-111 records of up to 15 bat species are reported; viz. Rousettus aegyptiacus (Geoffroy, 1810) (10 records), Rhinopoma cystops Thomas, 1903 (1), Taphozous perforatus Geoffroy, 1818 (1), Nycteris thebaica Geoffroy, 1813 (2), Rhinolophus clivosus Cretzschmar, 1830 (9), R. hipposideros (Borkhausen, 1797) (8), R. mehelyi Matschie, 1901 (1 [uncertain]), Asellia tridens (Geoffroy, 1813) (4-5), Eptesicus bottae (Peters, 1869) (6), Hypsugo ariel (Thomas, 1904) (24), Pipistrellus kuhlii (Kuhl, 1817) (3-5), Otonycteris hemprichii Peters, 1859 (5), Barbastella leucomelas (Cretzschmar, 1830) (6), Plecotus christii Gray, 1838 (19-20), and Tadarida teniotis (Rafinesque,1814)(8). Six species (R. aegyptiacus, R. cystops, T. perforatus, R. mehelyi, E. bottae, and T. teniotis) are here reported from Sinai for the first time. The taxonomic status of Rousettus aegyptiacus and Tadarida teniotis from Sinai is discussed. According to a profound taxonomic revision, Hypsugo bodenheimeri (Harrison, 1960) has been found to be a junior synonym of Hypsugo ariel (Thomas, 1904). The species status of Barbastella leucomelas from Sinai and southern Israel has been confirmed and hence, a separate species position for Central Asian Barbastella populations suggested. Representatives of Plecotus christii from the Sinaitic and southern Holy Land populations have been found to be significantly larger than the nominotypical ones from Upper Egypt and therefore described as a separate subspecies, P. christii petraeus subsp. nov. Basic descriptive echolocation parameters for 12 Sinaitic bat species are given and discussed. Echolocation calls of Rhinolophus clivosus, Hypsugo ariel, Otonycteris hemprichii, Barbastella leucomelas, and Plecotus christii are described in detail for the first time. Diet composition of six bat species (Rhinolophus clivosus, Hypsugo ariel, Otonycteris hemprichii, Barbastella leucomelas, Plecotus christii, and Tadarida teniotis) from Sinai was studied and their feeding ecology discussed. |