51. Mediterranean Horseshoe Bat, Rhinolophus euryale Blasius, 1853

(IUCN Red List: NT)

Subspecies: Monotypic species.

Distribution: Status uncertain, apparently rare; few records confined to the coastal mountains and near Damascus. (Fig. 58)

Previous records: Euphrates Valley (Dobson 1878) [most probably the upper part of the valley in Syria, see Benda et al. (2006)], Jeiroud (Trouessart & Kollmann 1923), Qal’at Salah ad-Din and Qal’at Al-Hossn (Benda et al. 2006), Hamama and Qal’at Salah ad-Din (Shehab et al. 2007).

Remarks: Formerly attributed to the subspecies R. e. judaicus Andersen & Matschie, 1904. However, this name was demonstrated to be a junior synonym of R. mehelyi Matschie, 1901, while R. euryale is tentatively referred to as a monotypic species (Benda et al. 2006).