Bobrinski's serotine (''Eptesicus bobrinskoi'') is a species of

vesper bat Vespertilionidae is a family of microbats, of the order Chiroptera, flying, insect-eating mammals variously described as the common, vesper, or simple nosed bats. The vespertilionid family is the most diverse and widely distributed of bat famili ...

. It can be found in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

Taxonomy

Bobrinski's serotine was described as a new species in 1935 by Alexander Petrovitch Kuzyakin (also spelled Kuzjakin). The

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of sever ...

had been collected in 1928 by S. P. Naumov in Central Kazakhstan. The

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

for the species name ''bobrinskoi'' was Russian zoologist

Nikolay Alekseyevich Bobrinski Professor Count Nikolay Alekseyevich Bobrinski (10 March 1890 – 27 December 1964) was a Russian zoologist and biogeographer. Biography Nikolay Alekseyevich Bobrinski was born on 10 March 1890 into the Russian aristocratic family Bobrinski, B ...

. As of 2006, it was the only species of bat that had been newly described from Kazakhstan. Like all other small-bodied ''Eptesicus'' species, it was once placed in the subgenus ''Amblyotus'', whose valid status is now doubted. Genetic data shows that it is closely related to the Gobi big brown bat, and that Bobrinski's serotine may not be a separate species. Instead, it is likely a subspecies of the Gobi big brown bat.

Description

It is considered a small-bodied member of its genus. It has forearm lengths of around . Its greatest length of skull is around .

Range and habitat

For several decades after its discovery, it was believed that Bobrinski's serotine was

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to Kazakhstan. In 2006, it was additionally identified in Iran. It is found in desert habitats.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1834625 Eptesicus Bats of Asia Mammals described in 1935 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot