61. Long-fingered Myotis, Myotis capaccinii (Bonaparte, 1837)

(IUCN Red List: VU)

Subspecies: Monotypic species.

Distribution: Uncommon but widespread along the Euphrates and its tributaries in Mesopotamia, as well as in the steppe regions of the northwest of Syria (Fig. 68).

Previous records: Qater Maghara and ar-Raqqa (Ebenau 1996), Maadan (Walter & Ebenau 1997), Kasret Muhammed Ali (Shehab et al. 2004), Abu Kamal, es-Salihiyyeh, Halabiyyeh, Tell Sheikh Hamad, Aleppo, Al-Ghazili, Kasret Muhammed Ali, and Mount Hermon (Benda et al. 2006), Hamama and Halabiyyeh (Shehab et al. 2007).

Remarks: The M. capaccinii populations in the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East were considered by several authors (see Benda et al. 2006) as a separate subspecies, M. c. bureschi Heinrich, 1936. However, there is no relevant support available for the subspecific division of the taxon.