192.

Anatolian Serotine

Eptesicus anatolicus

French: Sérotine d'Anatolie / German: Anatolien-Breitflligelfledermaus / Spanish: Eptesicus de Anatolia

Other common names: Anatolian Serotine Bat

Taxonomy. Eplesicus anatolicus Felten, 1971,

Alanya, Antalya, Turkey.

Eptesicus anatolicus was previously included as a subspecies of E. bottae, but genetic and morphological data suggest that E. anatolicus is a distinct species. According to genetic data presented byJ. Juste and colleagues in 2013,it is either sister to a clade including E. pachyomus, a paraphyletic E. serotinus, E. ognevi, and E. bottae (using mitochondrial genes) or is in a clade with E. ognevi, E. hottentotus, and E. bottae (using nuclear genes). Nevertheless, I. V. Artyushin and col leagues in 2018 found a similarly conflicting dataset that supported the traditional view that E. bottae includes both E. ogneuvi and E. anatolicus based on nuclear genes. Eptesicus ognevi and E. anatolicus are 1ncluded as distinct species here, pending a more complete genetic and morphological study encompassing the full distributions of all taxa in E. bottae sensu lato . Eptesicus anatolicus might be found sympatrically with E. ognevi in the southern Caucasus. Monotypic.

Distribution. Rhodes I (Greece), S Turkey, NE Cyprus, N Syria, Lebanon, N & E Iraq, and W & S Iran.

Descriptive notes. Head—body 66-72 mm, tail 49-57 mm, ear 18-4-20-6 mm, forearm 46-1-50-4 mm; weight 14-3 g. Dorsal pelage of the Anatolian Serotine is light to dark creamy buff, with rusty brown to brownish gray tinge; ventral pelage is whitish beige. Bare parts of face, ears, membranes, and limbs are dark brown to blackish brown. Ears are relatively short and subtriangular, with roundedtips; tragus is ¢.50% the ear length and same width from base to tip, with rounded tip. Wings and uropatagium are semitranslucent, and tail protrudes c.3-5 mm past uropatagium; postcalcarial lobe is well developed. Baculum is larger (0-97-12 mm long) and more massive than in Botta’ Serotine ( E. bottae) and is Y-shaped (base with moderately deep bifurcation, less so than in the Eurasian Serotine, E. serotinus, that has similarly shaped baculum) rather than triangular. Compared with Botta’s Serotine, the Anatolian Serotine has broader and more robust skull and more massive braincase overall; craniodental characteristics are otherwise similar to Botta’s Serotine. Chromosomal complement has 2n = 50, FNa = 48, and FN = 52 (Rhodes Island and Turkey).

Habitat. Arid and semiarid deserts, steppes, and rocky areas, generally not far from water, but also dry forested and temperate habitats, such as deciduous steppe forest climaxes in Iraq and Iran, and Mediterranean woodland climax and steppe-maquis areas in the Levant region and Turkey, from sea level to elevations of more than 1850 m. Anatolian Serotines are found in highlands of the Zagros Mountainsin Iran and primarily in lowlands in Lebanon (mean elevation of 338-8 m and maximum of 1025 m) and Syria (10-370 m).

Food and Feeding. Anatolian Serotines forage by slow hawking in open and semi-open areas along cliffs and vegetation and around streetlamps. They appear to feed rather opportunistically on various insects. In Syria, two sample sets offeces contained mostly Hymenoptera (Formicoidea); another two sets of digestive tracts contained mainly Diptera (Brachycera), followed by Heteroptera. In Turkey, Coleoptera (particularly Carabidae) were the most prominent in diets. A single sample from Rhodes Island contained mostly Hymenoptera, and a sample from Lebanon included mostly Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, and Heteroptera. Three digestive tracts of bats in Iran contained Coleoptera (40% by volume), Orthoptera (25%), Lepidoptera (20%), Neuroptera (10%), and Hemiptera ( Aphididae; 5%), and two fecal pellets contained Odonata (60%) and Hymenoptera (Formicoidea; 40%).

Breeding. In Syria, one postpartum Anatolian Serotine and four pregnant females were caught in late May. Each of pregnant female had two fetuses. A nearly full-grown young roosting with its mother was captured in July in Syria. Births in Syria likely occur in May-June, which might be true in Lebanon because a pregnant female with two fetuses was caught in early June and young in mid-July.

Activity patterns. Day roosts have been found in crevices between bricks and stones in buildings, and some individuals have been netted at entrances of caves, suggesting that they roost in caves. Search-call shape is FM/QCF sweep. Calls in Iran had peak frequencies of 28:9-29-1 kHz. On Rhodes Island,start frequencies were ¢.29-32 kHz, and end frequencies were ¢.27-28 kHz.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. The Anatolian Serotine appears to roost in colonies of 1-3 individuals. In Turkey, maternity colonies with 15-20 individuals and solitary individuals of both sexes, females occasionally having young, have been found. In Syria, Anatolian Serotines shared roosts with Savi’s Pipistrelles ( Hypsugo savii), Greater Horseshoe Bats (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum), Lesser Myotis ( Myotis blythii), Greater Myotis ( M. myotis), and Natterer’s Myotis ( M. nattereri).

Status and Conservation. Not assessed on The IUCN Red List. The Anatolian Serotine is included under Botta’s Serotine, which is classified as Least Concern. Little is known regarding its ecology and threats, but it appears to be relatively widespread and is common around the eastern Mediterranean.

Bibliography. Artyushin, Bannikova et al. (2009), Artyushin, Kruskop et al. (2018), Aulagnier et al. (2008), Benda, Abi-Said et al. (2016), Benda, Andreas et al. (2006), Benda, Hanék et al. (2007), Benda, Lucan et al. (2010), Dietz et al. (2007), Felten (1971), von Helversen (1998), Juste et al. (2013), Karatas & Sézen (2007), Mayeret al. (2007), Shehab et al. (2007), Volleth et al. (2001), Whitaker & Karatas (2009).