An African bat in Europe, Plecotus gaisleri: Biogeographic and ecological insights from molecular taxonomy and Species Distribution Models.

摘要: Because of the high risk going unnoticed, cryptic species represent a major challenge to biodiversity assessments, and this is particularly true for taxa that include many such species, example, bats. Long-eared bats from genus Plecotus comprise numerous occurring in Mediterranean Region present complex phylogenetic relationships often unclear distributions, at edge their known ranges on islands. Here, we combine Species Distribution Models (SDMs), field surveys molecular analyses shed light presence long-eared bat North Africa, gaisleri, islands Sicily Channel, providing strong evidence also occurs Europe, least Western Sea act as crossroad between Old Continent Africa. built using African records P. gaisleri projected Channel Islands showed that all these are potentially suitable species. Molecular identification captured Pantelleria, recent data Malta Gozo, confirmed species' two question. Besides confirming haplotype network reconstructions highlighted moderate structuring insular continental populations Our results remark role Italy diversity hotspot highlight need European faunal checklists conservation directives, usefulness combining different approaches explore outside ranges-a fundamental step informing conservation.