The Bocharic myotis or Bokhara whiskered bat (''Myotis bucharensis'') is a species of

mouse-eared bat The mouse-eared bats or myotises are a diverse and widespread genus (''Myotis'') of bats within the family Vespertilionidae. The noun "''myotis''" itself is a New Latin construction, from the Greek "''muós'' (meaning "mouse") and "''oûs''" (mea ...

in the family

Vespertilionidae 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 familie ...

, described in 1950, and indigenous to

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

, and

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

Taxonomy

The Bocharic myotis was described as a new subspecies of ''Myotis longicaudatus'' in 1950 by Alexander Petrovitch Kuzyakin (also known as Aleksandr Petrovich Kuzâkin). 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 several ...

had been collected near Kurgan-Tjubinskaja in

. When ''M. longicaudatus'' was later recognized as a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

of the

fraternal myotis The fraternal myotis (''Myotis frater'') is a species of vesper bat native to East Asia. Taxonomy The long-tailed myotis (''M. longicaudatus'') was split as a distinct species by a 2015 study based on molecular evidence. This has also been fo ...

, the Bocharic myotis had a trinomen of ''Myotis frater bucharensis''. Publications in 2000 and 2001 reasserted its status as a full species rather than a subspecies, however. Based on the analysis of two genes, one

nuclear Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: * Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics *Nuclear space *Nuclear ...

and one

mitochondrial A mitochondrion (; ) is an organelle found in the cells of most Eukaryotes, such as animals, plants and fungi. Mitochondria have a double membrane structure and use aerobic respiration to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is use ...

, the Bocharic myotis is part of a species complex including the

. Its

sister taxon In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and t ...

is likely the long-tailed myotis (''M. longicaudatus'').

Range

The Bocharic myotis is only known from

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

. The species was first documented in Tajikistan; between 1959 and 1963, four individuals were documented near

Samarqand fa, سمرقند , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from the top: Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zin ...

and

Tashkent Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of ...

, Uzbekistan. It has been speculated that it may also occur in Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Conservation

Since investigators failed to locate the species during field trips in the 1970s and 1980s, the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

suggested that ''M. bucharensis'' was potentially extinct in

and

. In 2019, a male Bocharic myotis was captured near the

Zeravshan Zarafshon ( uz, Zarafshon / Зарафшон, fa, زرافشان) is a city in the center of Uzbekistan's Navoiy Region. Administratively, it is a district-level city, that includes the urban-type settlement Muruntau. It has an area of and it ...

river in Tajikistan, confirming that the species is still present there.

Footnotes

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1830989 Mammals described in 1950 Mammals of Afghanistan Mammals of Central Asia Mouse-eared bats Bats of Asia

Taxonomy

Range

Conservation

See also

Footnotes