The Arabian barbastelle (''Barbastella leucomelas''), also known as the levant barbastelle, 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 ...

. Its habitat is temperate forests and caves. It is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

. It is found in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

( Sinai),

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, and Eritrea.

Taxonomy and etymology

It was described as a new species in 1826 by German scientist

Philipp Jakob Cretzschmar Philipp Jakob Cretzschmar (11 June 1786 – 4 May 1845) was a German physician and natural scientist. Cretzschmar was born at Sulzbach and studied medicine at the University of Würzburg. He taught anatomy and zoology at the Senckenberg Medica ...

. Cretzschmar initially placed it in the genus ''

Vespertilio ''Vespertilio'' is a genus of bats in the family Vespertilionidae. The common name for this family is vesper bats, which is a better-known classification than ''Vespertilio''. They are also known as frosted bats. Species within the genus ''Vespe ...

'', with the binomial ''Vespertilio leucomelas''. Its

species name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

"''leucomelas''" is from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

"'' leukomélās''" meaning "black and white." Previously, it was also thought to have a wider range across much of

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

, and accordingly was named the "eastern barbastelle" or "Asian barbastelle". However, genetic studies indicated that the species was paraphyletic as previously defined, with ''B. leucomelas'' from Egypt (''B. leucomelas sensu stricto'') being the

sister species 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 ...

to the Beijing barbastelle (''B. beijingensis''), with the clade containing both being sister to the

western barbastelle The western barbastelle (''Barbastella barbastellus''), also known as the barbastelle or barbastelle bat, is a European bat in the genus ''Barbastella''. This species is found from Portugal to Azerbaijan and from Sweden to Canary Islands, where ...

(''B. barbastellus''). Populations of ''B. leucomelas'' from much of Asia formed a sister group to this whole clade.' Due to this, the eastern barbastelle (''B. darjelingensis'') and Caspian barbastelle (''B. caspica'') were both split as distinct species (with the Japanese barbastelle, ''B. pacifica'', formerly classified within ''B. leucomelas'' and later ''B. darjelingensis'', being described as a distinct species in 2019). The American Society of Mammalogists,

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

, and

ITIS The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) is an American partnership of federal agencies designed to provide consistent and reliable information on the taxonomy of biological species. ITIS was originally formed in 1996 as an interagen ...

all follow the results of this study, although the IUCN Red List erroneously still lumps ''darjelingensis'', ''caspica'', and ''pacifica'' on its page for ''B. leucomelas''.

Range and habitat

Following taxonomic revisions, it is only known from a few scattered populations in North & East Africa and the Levant, on both sides of the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...

. It is known from northern Eritrea, southernmost

, and the

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai (now usually ) (, , cop, Ⲥⲓⲛⲁ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is ...

. It has been documented up to above sea level.

Description

Its forearm is long and its tail is long. Its ears are large and forward-facing. The tragi are large as well and very hairy. Its fur is blackish on its back but more brown on its ventral side. Its thumb is quite small, at long including the claw.

Biology and ecology

During the day, it roosts in sheltered places such as old buildings.

Status

Although classified as

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

by the

, this status includes '' darjelingensis'', '' caspica'', and '' pacifica'', which are now thought to be distinct species. According to the IUCN, the population size and trends of the North African population (''leucomelas sensu stricto'') are currently unknown. Activities associated with war may be a threat to this species, as they can disrupt its habitat as well as damage or disturb the caves and old buildings that this species roosts in.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1830600 Barbastella Mammals described in 1826 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Philipp Jakob Cretzschmar Bats of Africa Bats of Asia