Barbastella leucomelas Cretzschmar 1826

Barbastella leucomelas Cretzschmar 1826, in: Ruppell, Atlas Reise Nordl. Afr., Zool. Saugeth.: 73.

Type Locality: Egypt, Sinai.

Vernacular Names: Eastern Barbastelle.

Subspecies::

Subspecies Barbastella leucomelas subsp. leucomelas Cretzschmar 1826

Subspecies Barbastella leucomelas subsp. darjelingensis Hodgson 1855

Distribution: Caucasus to The Pamirs, N Iran, Afghanistan, India, Nepal, and W China; Honshu, Hokkaido (Japan); Sinai (Egypt); Eritrea; perhaps Indo-China.

Conservation: IUCN 2003 and IUCN / SSC Action Plan (2001) – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Reviewed in part by De Blase (1980), Qumsiyeh (1985), Yoshiyuki (1989), Harrison and Bates (1991), and Bates and Harrison (1997). Horácek et al. (2000) suggested that the western subspecies leucomelas may be conspecific with barbastellus, but retained these as separate species pending further study. If leucomelas is conspecific with barbastellus, the oldest name for the Eastern Barbastelle (widely regarded as a distinct species) would be darjelingensis. Japanese populations may also be distinct at the subspecies or species level (Horácek et al., 2000).