The Ethiopian long-eared bat or Ethiopian big-eared bat (''Plecotus balensis'') is a species of long-eared bat in the family

Vespertilionidae 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 ...

Description

The Ethiopian long-eared bat is a typical medium-size representative of the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

Plecotus ''Plecotus'' is a genus of vesper bat, commonly called long-eared bats. They are found throughout Eurasia and northern Africa. Many species in the genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family ...

'' ''sensu stricto'' which differs from the widespread

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...

species grey long-eared bat by its smaller overall size, having a small head, short snout, dark-brownish fur, and an absence of any yellow tinges to the fur.

Distribution

The Ethiopian long-eared bat is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the Ethiopian highlands, where it is currently only known to occur in the upper belts of the

Harenna Forest The Harenna Forest is a montane tropical evergreen forest in Ethiopia's Bale Mountains. The forest covers the southern slope of the mountains, extending from 1450 to 3200 meters elevation. The Bale Mountains are in Ethiopia's Oromia Region, and fo ...

in the

Bale Mountains National Park Bale Mountains National Park is a national park in Ethiopia. The park encompasses an area of approximately in the Bale Mountains and Sanetti Plateau of the Ethiopian Highlands. The park's Afromontane habitats have one of the highest incidences o ...

and at

Abune Yosef Abuna Yosef (Amharic: አቡነ ዮሴፍ) is a prominent mountain in the Lasta massif of the Ethiopian Highlands. At it is the 6th tallest mountain in Ethiopia and the 19th highest of Africa. It is located in the Semien Wollo Zone of the Amh ...

. There are older poorly documented records which may have been collected in other montane forest areas, including possible records from

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

, although this specimen may prove to refer to the Christie's long-eared bat ''Plecotus christii''.

Habitat

The Ethiopian long-eared bat has only ever been recorded as occurring in humid evergreen montane forest. The type specimen was collected from a forest belt dominated by ''

Astropanax ''Astropanax'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araliaceae, native to Tropical Africa, Madagascar, and other Indian Ocean islands. It was resurrected from ''Schefflera ''Schefflera'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Ar ...

'' spp. and ''

Hagenia ''Hagenia'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plant with the sole species ''Hagenia abyssinica'', native to the high-elevation Afromontane regions of central and eastern Africa. It also has a disjunct distribution in the high mountains of East ...

'' spp. These bats have been reported to forage in the more open parts of the forest or at the edges of clearings.

Taxonomy

The Ethiopian long-eared bat was described in 2000, and represents the farthest south that the genus ''Plecotus'' reaches in Africa, to the south of the two widespread

species

brown long-eared bat The brown long-eared bat or common long-eared bat (''Plecotus auritus'') is a small Eurasian insectivorous bat. It has distinctive ears, long and with a distinctive fold. It is extremely similar to the much rarer grey long-eared bat which was ...

''Plecotis auritus'' and grey long-eared bat ''Plecotus austriacus''. It forms a

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

with the

Canary long-eared bat The Canary long-eared bat (''Plecotus teneriffae''), also known as the Canary big-eared bat or Tenerife long-eared bat, is a species of vesper bat endemic to the Canary Islands. According to the IUCN, it is critically endangered. It feeds mainly o ...

''Plecotus teneriffae'', which is clearly monophyletic and represents an ancient lineage within ''Plecotus''. Christi's long-eared bat is its closest congener in a geographical context but there is a

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

of the Canary long-eared bat ''P.t. gaisleri'' 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 ...

, with populations of the Mediterranean long-eared bat ''Plecotus kolombatovici'' found between them. There is still a lot of research to be carried out to resolve the phylogenetic relationships in the genus ''Plecotus''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1831720 Plecotus Bats of Africa Endemic fauna of Ethiopia Mammals of Ethiopia Bat, Ethiopian big-eared Vulnerable biota of Africa Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Mammals described in 2000