Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) of the Eastern Mediterranean. Part 5. Bat fauna of Cyprus: Review of records with confirmation of six species new for the island and description of a new subspecies

A complete list of bat records available from Cyprus, based on both the literature data and new records gathered during recent field studies. The review of records is added with distribution maps and summaries of the distribution statuses of particular species. From the island of Cyprus, at least 195 confirmed records of 22 bat species are known; viz. Rousettus aegyptiacus (Geoffroy, 1810) (50 record localities), Rhinolophus ferrumequinum (Schreber, 1774) (12), R. hipposideros (Borkhausen, 1797) (18), R. euryale Blasius, 1853 (12), R. mehelyi Matschie, 1901 (1), R. blasii Peters, 1866 (11), Myotis blythii (Tomes, 1857) (4), M. nattereri (Kuhl, 1817) (11), M. emarginatus (Geoffroy, 1806) (2), M. capaccinii (Bonaparte, 1837) (1), Eptesicus serotinus (Schreber, 1774) (6), E. anatolicus Felten, 1971 (1), Hypsugo savii (Bonaparte, 1837) (10), Pipistrellus pipistrellus (Schreber, 1774) (2), P. pygmaeus (Leach, 1825) (3), P. kuhlii (Kuhl, 1817) (36), Nyctalus noctula (Schreber, 1774) (13), N. leisleri (Kuhl, 1817) (2), N. lasiopterus (Schreber, 1780) (1), Plecotus kolombatoviciÐuliæ, 1980 (7), Miniopterus schreibersii (Kuhl, 1817) (7), and Tadarida teniotis (Rafinesque,1814)(8). Four species (Eptesicus anatolicus, Pipistrellus pipistrellus, Nyctalus leisleri, N. lasiopterus) are reported here from Cyprus for the first time. Two other species (Plecotus kolombatovici and Tadarida teniotis), which were previously suggested to inhabit Cyprus, are here confirmed to occur the island. Cypriot populations of Pipistrellus pygmaeus have been found to be morphologically and genetically unique and therefore described as a separate subspecies, P. pygmaeus cyprius subsp. nov.