The Turkestani long-eared bat (''Otonycteris leucophaea'') is a species of

bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most bi ...

found in Asia. Though it was initially described in 1873 as a species, for many years it was considered synonymous with the

desert long-eared bat The desert long-eared bat (''Otonycteris hemprichii'') is a species of vesper bat found in North Africa and the Middle East. Taxonomy The taxonomic classification of ''Otonycteris'' is unclear, however their chromosomes suggest that this genus i ...

, ''Otonycteris hemprichii''. Recently, it was recognized as a distinct species once again.

Taxonomy

It was described by Russian explorer and naturalist Nikolaj Alekseevič Severcov in 1873, who named it ''Plecotus leucophaea''. In 1925, its name was changed to ''Otonycteris leucophaea''. Since its initial description, its taxonomic status has changed several times. Only recently was it revised to species-level again, in a paper published in 2010. The authors of the paper concluded that the genus ''

Otonycteris ''Otonycteris'' is a genus of vesper bats. Members of this genus are found in Northern Africa and Central Asia. Until recently, it was thought to be monotypic, but in 2010, the Turkestani long-eared bat was distinguished from the desert long-ea ...

'', which was previously viewed as

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

, actually consisted of two species: the

, ''Otonycteris hemprichii'', and the Turkestani long-eared bat, ''Otonycteris leucophaea''. They drew this conclusion based on morphological and genetic differences between the two populations. Based on their reclassification, the desert long-eared bat is found in

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

, while the Turkestani long-eared bat is found in

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 authors of the 2010 paper stated that there is a large amount of variation within the Turkestani long-eared bat, which they ascribed to three tentative, unnamed subspecies.

Description

Members of the genus ''Otonycteris'' are the largest

vesper bats 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 ...

in their geographic range. It has a large skull with robust teeth. Its

dental formula Dentition pertains to the development of teeth and their arrangement in the mouth. In particular, it is the characteristic arrangement, kind, and number of teeth in a given species at a given age. That is, the number, type, and morpho-physiolo ...

is for a total of 30 teeth. Its forearm is long. It differs from the desert long-eared bat due to its smaller

auditory bullae The tympanic part of the temporal bone is a curved plate of bone lying below the squamous part of the temporal bone, in front of the mastoid process, and surrounding the external part of the ear canal. It originates as a separate bone (tympanic b ...

, longer snout, and less-curved

baculum The baculum (also penis bone, penile bone, or ''os penis'', ''os genitale'' or ''os priapi'') is a bone found in the penis of many placental mammals. It is absent from the human penis, but present in the penises of some primates, such as the ...

. From snout to tail, individuals are long. Its ears are long and wide. The tragus is long and wide.

Biology

It forages by

gleaning Gleaning is the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers' fields after they have been commercially harvested or on fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest. It is a practice described in the Hebrew Bible that became a legall ...

arthropods from the ground. Prey items include

scorpion Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...

spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

beetles Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

, cockroaches and termites, grasshoppers, crickets, and katydids, and camel spiders.

Range and habitat

So far, it has been documented in several countries throughout Asia, including

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

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 ...

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 ...

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

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

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

, 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 ...

. It is found at elevations from above sea level. Dry

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate grasslands, ...

s and deserts are its preferred habitat.

Conservation

As it was only recently elevated to a species again and not much is known about it, the

IUCN 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 ...

currently evaluates it as

data deficient A data deficient (DD) species is one which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as offering insufficient information for a proper assessment of conservation status to be made. This does not necessaril ...

. Possible threats to this species include disturbance of their roosts by humans, and

pesticide Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests. This includes herbicide, insecticide, nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, microbicide, fungicide, and lampri ...

exposure from consuming affected insects. At least some of its habitat is protected where it occurs in the Parvand protected area in northeast Iran.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q21075079 Bats of Asia Mammals described in 1873 Otonycteris