Hanak's dwarf bat or Hanak's pipistrelle (''Pipistrellus hanaki'') is a species of

bat Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). 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 birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

only found in Cyrenaica,

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

and Crete,

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Taxonomy

''Pipistrellus hanaki'' was described as a new species in 2004. Its description was the result of a taxonomic split of the common pipistrelle. The

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

was collected in

Cyrenaica Cyrenaica ( ) or Kyrenaika (, , after the city of Cyrene), is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between the 16th and 25th meridians east, including the Kufra District. The coastal region, als ...

, which is in eastern

. The

eponym An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

for the

species name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

"''hanaki''" is Czech Republic scientist Vladimír Hanák, for his significant contribution "to the knowledge of the Palaearctic bat fauna". Hanák was also the first to point out the difference of this taxon from other members of the common pipistrelle species complex.

Range and habitat

In Crete, Hanak's dwarf bat was recorded in mosaics of oak trees (mainly ''Quercus pubescens''), cypresses (''Cupressus sempervirens''), olive trees (''Olea europea''), carob trees (''Ceratonia siliqua'') and to a lesser extend other cultivated trees (including ''Ficus carica'' and ''Prunus spp.'').

Echolocation

This species uses the same range of frequencies as the common pipistrelle, but its specific social calls allow a clear separation from the other pipistrelle species.

Conservation

This species is protected in the European Union under the Habitats Directive, Annex IV. This species is also listed in the Berne Convention and is specifically targeted by the UNEP- EUROBATS convention.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2127214 Pipistrellus Bats of Europe Mammals described in 2004 Bats of Africa