Botta's serotine


Botta's serotine is a species of vesper bat, one for 25 in the genus Eptesicus.
It can be found in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan possibly Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Yemen. It is found in rocky areas and temperate desert.

Taxonomy and etymology

It was described as a new species in 1869 by German naturalist Wilhelm Peters.
Peters placed it in the now-defunct bat genus Vesperus with a binomial of V. bottae.
The holotype had been collected in Arabian Peninsula by Paul-Émile Botta in 1837.
Later, it was determined that the exact type locality was specifically in southwestern Yemen.
Botta is the eponym for the species name "bottae."
In 1878, George Edward Dobson wrote that he considered it synonymous with the serotine bat, Vesperugo serotinus.
By 1967, it was referred to as its present name combination, Eptesicus bottae.

Description

Individuals weigh and have wingspans of.
It has a forearm length of.
It has an average flight speed of.

Range and habitat

It is found in several countries bordering the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea, the Middle East, and Asia.
Countries where it is found include: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Egypt Georgia, Aegean Islands of Greece, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Oman Pakistan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.
It has been documented at a range of elevations up to above sea level.

Conservation

As of 2008, it is evaluated as a least-concern species by the IUCN.
It meets the criteria for this assessment because it has a wide geographic range and no major threats to its existence have been identified.
Within Egypt, it is considered locally common, though it is less common in other parts of its range.