Diversity and distribution of the Myotis nattereri complex (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) in the Middle East: filling the gaps

Myotis nattereri represents a species complex that recently underwent taxonomic changes. Based on morphological evidence, two species were regarded to occur in the western Palaearctic; M. nattereri in Europe, Maghreb, Middle East, and Turkmenistan, and M. schaubi limited to Armenia and north-western Iran. Within M. nattereri sensu lato, several cryptic species were recently revealed using the morphological and molecular genetic approaches (M. escalerai, M. zenatius, M. crypticus, M. tschuliensis, M. hoveli), restricting M. nattereri s.str. to the temperate zone of Europe and the Balkans. Our aim was to complement the knowledge of diversity and distribution of the M. nattereri complex in the Middle East with help of molecular genetic (mitochondrial ND1 gene) and morphometric analyses. In this region, four genetic lineages of the complex belonging to two clades and three primarily size-defined morphotypes were confirmed in accordance with the previous studies. This mosaic represents four species, M. nattereri s.str., M. hoveli, M. tschuliensis, and M. schaubi, and all these species were demostrated to occur in allo- or parapatry to each other. Myotis nattereri s.str. was found only in western Anatolia and in the Aegean island of Samos. The occurrence Myotis hoveli was shown in the Levantine range of this species complex (Jordan, Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus, southern Anatolia) and also in the mountainous areas of eastern Turkey and northern Iraq. The range of Myotis tschuliensis represents a belt stretching from Crimea, via the Caucasus, Transcaucasia and northern Iran, to Turkmenistan. Myotis schaubi was confirmed only in its very restricted range in Iran and Armenia.