Morphological and molecular confirmation of the common pipistrelle bat, Pipistrellus pipistrellus Schreber, 1774 (Vespertilionidae: Chiroptera), in Xinjiang, China

Species identification is pivotal in taxonomy, systematics, evolutionary biology and conservation biology. We collected bats that died of natural causes in Shihezi city, Xinjiang, China, and carried out morphological and genetic identification. Morphologically, all individuals were adults/subadults or juveniles of Pipistrellus pipistrellus. We found one haplotype for the mitochondrial gene ND1 and five for the mitochondrial gene cytochrome b (Cytb) among six specimens. Phylogenetically, all the Cytb sequences grouped with P. pipistrellus. We confirm this species’ occurrence in Xinjiang, China.

Linking Activity of Common Pipistrelles, Pipistrellus Pipistrellus, in an Urbanised Area With a Nearby Mass Swarming Site

The Erňa cave, a mass winter hibernaculum and important swarming site of the common pipistrelle, Pipistrellus pipistrellus, is located in the Slovak Karst, near the Košice urban agglomeration in eastern Slovakia. Over the past two decades, the unusual behaviour of late summer or autumn accidental but abundant occurrences of this species have been observed in buildings (so-called invasions) in Košice. It has been hypothesised that these events are related to bats swarming and hibernating in the Erňa cave; however, causality has not been confirmed. We measured the relative activity of bats from the end of the breeding season through the invasions and autumn swarming prior to the onset of hibernation by recording their echolocation calls on car-based transects in order to find any spatial and temporal linkage between activity in the urban area and the swarming site. Over two years we recorded 6,253 sequences with echolocation calls of P. pipistrellus and 5,239 records of other bats along four transects totalling 7,121 km in length. Spatial pattern analysis found that the city agglomeration presented a local hotspot of the species’ activity, especially during the invasion season. Multivariate generalised additive modelling confirmed an increased density of records of P. pipistrellus between the urban area and the hibernaculum in the pre-hibernation season, whereas this pattern was not found to be consistent on the control transects near the city. Contrary to that, other bat species showed little variation in their activity between transects and seasons. The obtained results suggest that the relatively short geographical distance between the urban agglomeration and the large swarming site is likely a clue to the frequent city invasions of the species, although the role of the city as a hibernation area cannot be completely omitted.

Features of the chromosome set of representatives of smoothnosed bats of the North Caucasus

Aim. The aim of this work was to study the chromosome set of some representatives of smooth-nosed bats of the North Caucasus.Material and Methods. Various research methods were used to achieve this goal, including that of dried preparations (the main method for obtaining chromosomal preparations) and that of constructing karyograms.Results. A comparative analysis of the karyological data of 11 species of smooth-nosed bats of the North Caucasus was undertaken and the karyological characteristics of the species accepted in the latest reports on the fauna of Russia and the Caucasus were clarified. The similarity of G -bands in large pairs of meta- and submetacentric chromosomes in Myotis blythi, Myotis mystacinus, Pipistrellus pipistrellus, Pipistrellus kuhli and Vepertilio murinus with bands in small and medium-sized acrocentric chromosomes such as in Eptesicus seotinus may indicate the evolution of the karyotype of the first species by Robertsonian translocation, i.e. compounds of acrocentric chromosomes of Eptesicus serotinus in various combinations. When comparing karyotypes in the family Vespertilionidae, it was found that the karyotype of Eptesicus serotinus is "archaic" (2n=50, NFa=48). With the help of karyological data, the authors composed schemes of phylogenetic relationships of genera in the family Vespertilionidae, which differ to a certain extent from the schemes compiled by taxonomists for representatives of this family.Conclusions. Based on the results obtained, we can conclude that the karyotype of Eptesicus serotinus is the most primitive among the representatives of the order of bats. The primary role in the evolution of this group was played by Robertsonian rearrangements and pericentric inversions (reduction of NFa and 2n from 50 to 38).

The genome sequence of the common pipistrelle, Pipistrellus pipistrellus Schreber 1774

We present a genome assembly from an individual female Pipistrellus pipistrellus (the common pipistrelle; Chordata; Mammalia; Chiroptera; Vespertilionidae). The genome sequence is 1.76 gigabases in span. The majority of the assembly is scaffolded into 21 chromosomal pseudomolecules, with the X sex chromosome assembled.

On the bat fauna of the Dnipro-Orilskiy Nature Reserve

Data on visual observations of bats in the territory of the Dnipro-Orilskiy Nature Reserve during 2013–2020 are given. The photos that were taken at the same time are presented. From the existing checklist of bats occurring in the reserve, four species were recorded during the mentioned period: Eptesicus serotinus (2 specimens), Pipistrellus pipistrellus (1 specimen), Nyctalus noctula (about 40 specimens), and Pipistrellus kuhlii (about 30 specimens). The most interesting fact is the finding of Nyctalus noctula in November, which is due to the tendency to expand its wintering range. The occurrence of Pipistrellus kuhlii in natural habitats was also revealed, which is uncommon for this species.