Biodiversity Data Journal :
Data Paper (Biosciences)
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Corresponding author: Kendra Phelps (phelps@ecohealthalliance.org), Kevin J Olival (olival@ecohealthalliance.org)
Academic editor: Miguel Camacho Sanchez
Received: 16 Jul 2024 | Accepted: 09 Aug 2024 | Published: 21 Aug 2024
© 2024 Kendra Phelps, Zahran Al Abdulasalam, Nisreen Al-Hmoud, Shahzad Ali, Mumen Alrwashdeh, Rasit Bilgin, Astghik Ghazaryan, Luke Hamel, Nijat Hasanov, Ioseb Natradze, George Papov, Ketevan Sidamonidze, Andrew Spalton, Lela Urushadze, Kevin Olival
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Phelps K, Al Abdulasalam Z, Al-Hmoud N, Ali S, Alrwashdeh M, Attaullah , Bilgin R, Ghazaryan A, Hamel L, Hasanov N, Natradze I, Papov G, Sidamonidze K, Spalton A, Urushadze L, Olival K (2024) Distribution of bat species in Western Asia: Occurrence records from the Western Asia Bat Research Network (WAB-Net) project. Biodiversity Data Journal 12: e132199. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.12.e132199
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Western Asia represents a mixing pot of diverse bat species with distributions spanning across other geographic regions. Yet, relative to other regions, there is a significant gap in coordinated bat research in Western Asia, thereby resulting in a relatively limited number of curated occurrence records.
The Western Asia Bat Research Network (WAB-Net) project was created to strengthen research capacity and knowledge of the diversity and distribution of bat species in a little-studied region, as well as to collect data to characterise the diversity and prevalence of coronaviruses in diverse bat species. Over a four-year period (2018–2022), we documented 4,278 individual records for 41 bat species using a cross-sectional survey approach at 50 sites in seven Western Asian countries, specifically Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Jordan, Oman, Pakistan and Turkiye. At each site, we captured, on average, 90 individual bats (range: 9-131) over multiple consecutive nights and used standardised methods to collect demographic and morphological data from captured individuals. We additionally completed a systematic evaluation of environmental characterisation and human-bat interactions at all 50 sites. Here, we report individual occurrence records and site conditions from this multi-country, multi-year sampling effort.
Chiroptera, Middle East, West Asia, biodiversity, mammal
Western Asia serves as a convergence point for bat species originating from diverse geographic regions, including North Africa, South Asia and Europe, with the majority of these species distributed in more than one region. However, research on bat species in Western Asia is limited in comparison to other geographic regions (
Systematic bat survey data are invaluable to support both conservation and zoonotic disease research efforts (
The Western Asia Bat Research Network (WAB-Net) project was created to strengthen research capacity and knowledge of the diversity and distribution of bat species in a little-studied region, as well as to collect data to characterise bat-associated coronaviruses (
Over a four-year period (2018-2022), we conducted standardised, cross-sectional sampling of bat populations at 50 sites in seven Western Asian countries, specifically Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Jordan, Oman, Pakistan and Turkiye.
Bats were captured primarily using harp traps and mist nets set in flyways or at the entrance to caves or anthropogenic structures in which bats were roosting. On rare occasions, bats were extracted from crevices with hand-held hoop nets. Trapping began approximately 30 minutes prior to sunset, with trapping duration dependent on capture rate (i.e. to prevent capture of more individuals than can be safely processed in a single night), but on average, nightly trapping duration was 4.8 hours. Captured bats were placed individually in a porous cloth bag and hung in a quiet, dry location away from predators. Standard morphological measurements (i.e. forearm length (mm) and body mass (g)) and demographic information (i.e. sex, age class and reproductive status) of each captured bat were recorded. Expert opinion was relied upon for species identification in the field and, when needed, additional morphological measurements, such as ear length (mm), tail length (mm), hind foot length (mm) and head and body length (mm) along with acoustic recordings, were used to aid in identification. Species identification was later confirmed for a subset of individuals of each species per site from each country via barcoding the cytochrome b gene using previously published methods (
Field team members adhered to biosafety protocols established by the PREDICT Consortium (
We captured bats at 50 sites in seven Western Asian countries, specifically Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Jordan, Oman, Pakistan and Turkiye (Fig.
Locality information and sampling dates for each site are presented in Table
Locality information and sampling dates for sites included in this study. The map code corresponds to sites in Fig. 1. See Suppl. material 3 for more detailed information about each site.
Map code | Country | Site |
Latitude (North) |
Longitude (East) |
Sampling start date (dd/mm/yyyy) |
Sampling end date (dd/mm/yyyy) |
1 | Turkiye | Cilingoz Cave | 41.52 | 28.22 | 21/08/2018 | 24/08/2018 |
2 | Georgia | Ghliana Cave | 42.37 | 42.60 | 10/09/2018 | 12/09/2018 |
3 | Jordan | Pella Cave | 32.44 | 35.62 | 04/10/2018 | 06/10/2018 |
4 | Georgia | Letsurtsume Cave | 42.54 | 42.11 | 07/06/2019 | 10/06/2019 |
5 | Armenia | Areni 1 Cave | 39.73 | 45.20 | 12/06/2019 | 16/06/2019 |
6 | Jordan | Al-Himmah Cave | 32.71 | 35.68 | 07/07/2019 | 09/07/2019 |
7 | Georgia | Tetri Senakebi Cave | 41.54 | 45.26 | 06/08/2019 | 09/08/2019 |
8 | Turkiye | Yaylacik Cave | 41.36 | 28.22 | 16/08/2019 | 18/08/2019 |
9 | Jordan | Baoun Cave | 32.39 | 35.73 | 22/08/2019 | 24/08/2019 |
10 | Turkiye | Sofular Cave | 41.18 | 29.51 | 23/08/2019 | 27/08/2019 |
11 | Georgia | Samertskhle Klde | 42.34 | 43.35 | 03/09/2019 | 05/09/2019 |
12 | Azerbaijan | Fish Reproduction Plant | 39.39 | 49.36 | 07/09/2019 | 09/09/2019 |
13 | Turkiye | Dupnisa Cave | 41.84 | 27.56 | 08/09/2019 | 11/09/2019 |
14 | Pakistan | Noorjahan & Jahangir Tombs | 31.62 | 74.29 | 15/10/2019 | 16/10/2019 |
15 | Pakistan | Sheikhpura Fort | 31.71 | 73.99 | 18/10/2019 | 19/10/2019 |
16 | Jordan | Khirbat Al Wahadinah | 32.32 | 35.62 | 26/10/2019 | 01/11/2019 |
17 | Oman | Muscat Al Khoud Fort | 23.57 | 58.12 | 03/11/2019 | 04/11/2019 |
18 | Oman | Alhaseela Farm | 17.01 | 54.13 | 01/03/2020 | 02/03/2020 |
19 | Oman | Suhoor Cave | 17.13 | 54.12 | 03/03/2020 | 05/03/2020 |
20 | Georgia | Gremi | 42.00 | 45.66 | 13/07/2020 | 16/07/2020 |
21 | Turkiye | Saykoy Cave | 36.95 | 34.79 | 03/08/2020 | 05/08/2020 |
22 | Georgia | Becho Cave | 42.54 | 42.00 | 07/08/2020 | 12/08/2020 |
23 | Turkiye | Sarihidir Tunnel | 38.74 | 34.94 | 08/08/2020 | 10/08/2020 |
24 | Armenia | Arakelots Vanq | 41.03 | 45.07 | 11/08/2020 | 13/08/2020 |
25 | Armenia | Shikahogh Mine | 39.09 | 46.48 | 15/08/2020 | 17/08/2020 |
26 | Turkiye | Sefer Yitigi Cave | 37.48 | 30.53 | 17/08/2020 | 20/08/2020 |
27 | Azerbaijan | Baligchilar Village | 38.95 | 48.92 | 20/08/2020 | 22/08/2020 |
28 | Turkiye | Hidirellez Cave | 36.17 | 29.64 | 22/08/2020 | 25/08/2020 |
29 | Georgia | Algeti Water Reservoir | 41.59 | 44.53 | 28/08/2020 | 02/09/2020 |
30 | Azerbaijan | Gakh | 41.43 | 46.91 | 09/09/2020 | 11/09/2020 |
31 | Jordan | King Talal Dam | 32.22 | 35.88 | 01/10/2020 | 01/10/2020 |
32 | Jordan | Aqaba Castle | 29.52 | 35.00 | 12/10/2020 | 12/10/2020 |
33 | Jordan | Saraya-Aqaba | 29.54 | 34.99 | 13/10/2020 | 13/10/2020 |
34 | Jordan | Kufranjah Cave | 32.30 | 35.70 | 21/10/2020 | 22/10/2020 |
35 | Georgia | Pichkhovani Church | 42.08 | 45.33 | 21/06/2021 | 22/06/2021 |
36 | Turkiye | Firat | 37.91 | 38.99 | 07/07/2021 | 08/07/2021 |
37 | Turkiye | Kahyaoglu | 40.99 | 37.83 | 13/07/2021 | 14/07/2021 |
38 | Azerbaijan | Jangi Gobustan | 40.51 | 49.28 | 15/07/2021 | 17/07/2021 |
39 | Armenia | Dilijan | 40.75 | 44.82 | 29/07/2021 | 31/07/2021 |
40 | Georgia | Grdzeli Chala | 42.02 | 45.62 | 31/07/2021 | 07/08/2021 |
41 | Armenia | Getashen | 39.70 | 45.56 | 03/08/2021 | 05/08/2021 |
42 | Georgia | Vardigora | 42.25 | 43.09 | 03/08/2021 | 09/08/2021 |
43 | Armenia | Jermuk | 39.86 | 45.70 | 06/08/2021 | 09/08/2021 |
44 | Turkiye | Cayirkoy Cave | 41.46 | 31.99 | 10/08/2021 | 11/08/2021 |
45 | Azerbaijan | Shaki | 41.18 | 46.98 | 23/08/2021 | 25/08/2021 |
46 | Azerbaijan | Aghjabadi | 40.12 | 47.57 | 10/09/2021 | 12/09/2021 |
47 | Turkiye | Harbiye Cave | 36.14 | 36.14 | 22/09/2021 | 26/09/2021 |
48 | Turkiye | Narlica Cave | 36.22 | 36.20 | 27/09/2021 | 28/09/2021 |
49 | Oman | Saarani Falaj | 24.22 | 55.81 | 16/01/2022 | 18/01/2021 |
50 | Oman | Baidha Tunnel | 24.36 | 56.42 | 19/01/2022 | 20/01/2022 |
We captured 4,278 individual bats of 41 species belonging to nine families, which represents 43.2% of the 95 bat species distributed across the seven focal countries and 35.6% of the 115 bat species documented in Western Asia (
Below, scientific names followed by "*" or "**" indicate a conservation status of "Near Threatened" or "Vulnerable", respectively, as designated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species (
Rank | Scientific Name | Common Name |
---|---|---|
order | Chiroptera | Bats |
family | Emballonuridae | Sheath-tailed Bats |
species | Taphozous nudiventris | Naked-rumped Tomb Bat |
species | Taphozous perforatus | Egyptian Tomb Bat |
family | Hipposideridae | Old World leaf-nosed Bats |
species | Asellia arabica | Arabian Trident Leaf-nosed Bat |
species | Asellia tridens | Geoffroy's Trident Leaf-nosed Bat |
family | Miniopteridae | Bent-winged Bats |
species | Miniopterus pallidus* | Pallid Long-fingered Bat |
species | Miniopterus schreibersii** | Schreibers' Long-fingered Bat |
family | Nycteridae | Slit-faced Bats |
species | Nycteris thebaica | Egyptian Slit-faced Bat |
family | Pteropodidae | Old World Fruit Bats |
species | Rousettus aegyptiacus | Egyptian Rousette |
species | Rousettus leschenaultii* | Leschenault's Rousette |
family | Rhinolophidae | Horseshoe Bats |
species | Rhinolophus blasii | Blasius' Horseshoe Bat |
species | Rhinolophus clivosus | Geoffroy's Horseshoe Bat |
species | Rhinolophus euryale* | Mediterranean Horseshoe Bat |
species | Rhinolophus ferrumequinum | Greater Horseshoe Bat |
species | Rhinolophus hipposideros | Lesser Horseshoe Bat |
species | Rhinolophus lepidus | Blyth's Horseshoe Bat |
species | Rhinolophus mehelyi** | Mehely's Horseshoe Bat |
family | Rhinonycteridae | Trident Bats |
species | Triaenops persicus | Persian Trident Bat |
family | Rhinopomatidae | Mouse-tailed Bats |
species | Rhinopoma cystops | Arabian Mouse-tailed Bat |
species | Rhinopoma microphyllum | Greater Mouse-tailed Bat |
species | Rhinopoma muscatellum | Muscat Mouse-tailed Bat |
family | Vespertilionidae | Vesper Bats |
species | Barbastella caspica | Caspian Barbastelle |
species | Cnephaeus (Eptesicus) serotinus | Eurasian Serotine |
species | Hypsugo savii | Savi's Pipistrelle |
species | Myotis alcathoe | Alcathoe Whiskered Myotis |
species | Myotis blythii | Lesser Myotis |
species | Myotis capaccinii** | Long-fingered Myotis |
species | Myotis daubentonii | Daubenton's Myotis |
species | Myotis davidii | David's Myotis |
species | Myotis emarginatus | Geoffroy's Myotis |
species | Myotis myotis | Greater Myotis |
species | Myotis nattereri | Natterer's Myotis |
species | Myotis tschuliensis | Tschuli Myotis |
species | Pipistrellus javanicus | Javan Pipistrelle |
species | Pipistrellus kuhlii | Kuhl's Pipistrelle |
species | Pipistrellus nathusii | Nathusius's Pipistrelle |
species | Pipistrellus pipistrellus | Common Pipistrelle |
species | Pipistrellus pygmaeus | Soprano Pipistrelle |
species | Plecotus auritus | Brown Long-eared Bat |
species | Plecotus macrobullaris | Alpine Long-eared Bat |
species | Scotophilus heathii | Greater Asian Yellow Bat |
species | Scotophilus kuhlii | Lesser Asian Yellow Bat |
August 2018 - January 2022
Usage of reported data is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
Occurrence records for 4,278 individual bats from 41 species captured across 50 sites in seven Western Asian countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Jordan, Oman, Pakistan and Turkiye) between 2018-2022.
Column label | Column description |
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occurrenceID | An identifier for the dwc:Occurrence (as opposed to a particular digital record of the dwc:Occurrence). |
basisOfRecord | The specific nature of the data record. |
eventDate | The date-time or interval during which a dwc:Event occurred. For occurrences, this is the date-time when the dwc:Event was recorded. |
scientificName | The full scientific name, with authorship and date information if known. When forming part of a dwc:Identification, this should be the name in lowest level taxonomic rank that can be determined. This term should not contain identification qualifications, which should instead be supplied in the dwc:identificationQualifier term. |
higherClassification | A list (concatenated and separated) of taxon names terminating at the rank immediately superior to the referenced dwc:Taxon. |
kingdom | The full scientific name of the kingdom in which the dwc:Taxon is classified. |
phylum | The full scientific name of the phylum or division in which the dwc:Taxon is classified. |
class | The full scientific name of the class in which the dwc:Taxon is classified. |
order | The full scientific name of the order in which the dwc:Taxon is classified. |
family | The full scientific name of the family in which the dwc:Taxon is classified. |
genus | The full scientific name of the genus in which the dwc:Taxon is classified. |
specificEpithet | The name of the first or species epithet of the dwc:scientificName. |
taxonRank | The taxonomic rank of the most specific name in the dwc:scientificName. |
lifeStage | The age class or life stage of the dwc:Organism(s) at the time the dwc:Occurrence was recorded. |
sex | The sex of the biological individual(s) represented in the dwc:Occurrence. |
reproductiveCondition | Categorisation of individuals for eusocial species (including some mammals and arthropods). |
identifiedBy | A list (concatenated and separated) of names of people, groups or organisations who assigned the dwc:Taxon to the subject. |
dateIdentified | The date on which the subject was determined as representing the dwc:Taxon. |
decimalLatitude | The geographic latitude (in decimal degrees, using the spatial reference system given in dwc:geodeticDatum) of the geographic centre of a dcterms:Location. Positive values are north of the Equator, negative values are south of it. Legal values lie between -90 and 90, inclusive. |
decimalLongitude | The geographic longitude (in decimal degrees, using the spatial reference system given in dwc:geodeticDatum) of the geographic centre of a dcterms:Location. Positive values are east of the Greenwich Meridian, negative values are west of it. Legal values lie between -180 and 180, inclusive. |
geodeticDatum | The ellipsoid, geodetic datum or spatial reference system (SRS), upon which the geographic coordinates given in dwc:decimalLatitude and dwc:decimalLongitude are based. |
coordinateUncertaintyInMetres | The horizontal distance (in metres) from the given dwc:decimalLatitude and dwc:decimalLongitude describing the smallest circle containing the whole of the dcterms:Location. Leave the value empty if the uncertainty is unknown, cannot be estimated or is not applicable (because there are no coordinates). Zero is not a valid value for this term. |
dataGeneralisations | Actions taken to make the shared data less specific or complete than in its original form. Suggests that alternative data of higher quality may be available on request. |
georeferencedDate | The date on which the dcterms:Location was georeferenced. |
georeferenceSources | A list (concatenated and separated) of maps, gazetteers or other resources used to georeference the dcterms:Location, described specifically enough to allow anyone in the future to use the same resources. |
georeferenceVerificationStatus | A categorical description of the extent to which the georeference has been verified to represent the best possible spatial description for the dcterms:Location of the dwc:Occurrence. |
higherGeography | A list (concatenated and separated) of geographic names less specific than the information captured in the dwc:locality term. |
continent | The name of the continent in which the dcterms:Location occurs. |
country | The name of the country or major administrative unit in which the dcterms:Location occurs. |
countryCode | The standard code for the country in which the dcterms:Location occurs. |
stateProvince | The name of the next smaller administrative region than country (state, province, canton, department, region etc.) in which the dcterms:Location occurs. |
county | The full, unabbreviated name of the next smaller administrative region than stateProvince (county, shire, department etc.) in which the dcterms:Location occurs. |
municipality | The full, unabbreviated name of the next smaller administrative region than county (city, municipality etc.) in which the dcterms:Location occurs. Do not use this term for a nearby named place that does not contain the actual dcterms:Location. |
locality | The specific description of the place. |
language | A language of the resource. |
licence | A legal document giving official permission to do something with the resource. |
institutionID | An identifier for the institution having custody of the object(s) or information referred to in the record. |
institutionCode | The name (or acronym) in use by the institution having custody of the object(s) or information referred to in the record. |
collectionCode | The name, acronym, coden or initialism identifying the collection or dataset from which the record was derived. |
catalogNumber | An identifier (preferably unique) for the record within the dataset or collection. |
recordedBy | A list (concatenated and separated) of names of people, groups or organiations responsible for recording the original dwc:Occurrence. The primary collector or observer, especially one who applies a personal identifier (dwc:recordNumber), should be listed first. |
preparations | A list (concatenated and separated) of preparations and preservation methods for a dwc:MaterialEntity. |
otherCatalogNumbers | A list (concatenated and separated) of previous or alternative fully qualified catalogue numbers or other human-used identifiers for the same dwc:Occurrence, whether in the current or any other dataset or collection. |
previousIdentifications | A list (concatenated and separated) of previous assignments of names to the dwc:Organism. |
associatedSequences | A list (concatenated and separated) of identifiers (publication, global unique identifier, URI) of genetic sequence information associated with the dwc:MaterialEntity. |
We thank the following agencies for permission to conduct this research project: In Armenia (Ministry of Nature Protection, Permit No. 03/577; Ministry of Enviornment, Permit No. 2/10.2.7/3457); in Azerbaijan (Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, Permit No. 21/304); in Georgia (Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, Permit No. 4894-01-2-201806081223 and Permit No. 3030-01-2-202103261654); in Jordan (Royal Society for Conservation of Nature, Permit No. 2/238/1/10); in Oman (Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs, Permit No. 6210/10/97 and Permit No. 6210/10/125); in Pakistan (Wildilfe and Parks Department of Punjab Province, Permit No. 4292); in Turkiye (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Permit No. 72784983-488.04 and Permit No. E-21264211-288.04-1581138).
We extend our gratitude to the following field team members: In Armenia (Seda Adamyan, Vanuhi Hambardzumyan, Tatevik Harutyunyan, Tigran Hayrapetyan, Aram Pirumyan, Anna Tadevosyan, Ofik Yelabekyan); in Azerbaijan (Leyla Aliyeva, Sabina Bunyatova, Gulnar Guliyeva, Agil Hakhiyev, Ilaha Kerimli, Sevin Sarukhanova); in Georgia (Maia Chigladze, Rusudan Kodiashvili, Davit Putkaradze, Manana Shanidze, Lamzira Tshkvaradze); in Jordan (Ehab Abu-Basha, Abdallh Al Dwekat, Sief Al Hanandeh, Qusay Al-Khateeb, Zaidoun Hijazeen, Ismail Malkawi, Hani Talafha); in Oman (Ahmed Al Amri, Waheed Al Fazari, Khalifa Al Ghisni, Khalid Al Hikmani, Zakariya Al Kindi, Atika Al Mandari, Abdullah Al Manji, Said Zabanoot); in Pakistan (Abdul Malik, Sajida Noureen, Muhammad Rizwan); in Turkiye (Ekin Azbazdar, Kaan Bayir, Ziya Caylarbasi, Erdem Danyer, Fadime Gencer, Sabri Hacioglu, Evrim Kalkan, Aygun Karacay, Zeynep Kocer, Ayse Mergenci, Selahattin Unsal, Ceylan Yucel); as well as the laboratory team members: in Georgia (Gvantsa Brachveli, Meri Pantsulaia, Ana Papkiauri, Tea Tevdoradze, Giorgi Tomashvilli, Davit Tsaguria); in Jordan (Amany Abdien, Ghadeer Alzghoul); in Turkiye (Fadime Gencer, Aygun Karacay, Yagmur Tarhana).
Lastly, we extend our gratitude to Drs. Paul Bates, Jonathan Epstein, Tigga Kingston, Vincent Munster and Paul Racey for providing general oversight and technical expertise as Scientic Advisory Board members of the WAB-Net.
This research was sponsored by the Department of Defense, Defense Threat Reduction Agency (HDTRA11710064). The content of the information does not necessarily reflect the position or the policy of the federal government and no official endorsement should be inferred.
Detailed information about each of the 4,278 individual bats captured during the WAB-Net project, including taxonomic, demographic and morphologic information.
Update of field species identification based on CytB barcoding results, including associated NCBI GenBank accession numbers, geographic distribution, morphology and/or acoustic signatures.
We assessed site-level factors within a 1 km2 radius at each of the 50 sites in which bats were sampled, ranging from site type (e.g. forested habitat, wetland, caves and/or rock crevices), potential bat-human interfaces (e.g. tourism, wildlife market) and evidence of human disturbance (e.g. guano harvesting, bat hunting, fire remnants).