Systematic status of African populations of Pipistrellus pipistrellus complex (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae), with a description of a new species from Cyrenaica, Libya ...

• Main Authors: Benda, Petr, Hulva, Pavel, Gaisler, Jiří
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2004
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Mammalia; Chiroptera; Chordata; Animalia; bats; bat; Pipistrellus pipistrellus
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13519967; https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.13519967

(Uploaded by Plazi for the Bat Literature Project) The distribution of pipistrelles of the Pipistrellus pipistrellus complex (= P. pipistrellus s.l.) reaches only marginally the African continent. These bats are known only from a narrow belt of the Mediterranean zone in Maghreb and from NE Libya. We analysed museum specimens of African populations of P. pipistrellus s.l. using both morphologic and genetic techniques and compared them with Eurasian specimens of the complex. The African representatives of P. pipistrellus complex include two morphologically, genetically and geographically distinct populations. One of them inhabits the Mediterranean part of Cyrenaica, Libya. Belonging to the P. pygmaeus genetic lineage, these bats are represented by larger and more rusty coloured individuals with large massive rostrum and canines. In morphologic traits, this population differs significantly from all Western Palaearctic populations of the P. pipistrellus complex. These bats differ by about 6–7% in genetic ...