Morphological, morphometrical and biometrical study on bat fauna (Chiroptera: Megachiroptera, Microchiroptera) in West Azarbaijan province of Iran

This research was conducted for morphological, morphometric and biometrical studies of bat fauna in West Azarbayjan province during 2016-2017. In this study, based on the geographical and climatic location of the province, 22 regions around 8 cities (Takab, Bukan, Naghadeh, Oshnaviyeh, Salmas, Khoy, Chaldoran, and Maku) across the province were selected as research stations. In different seasons of the year (spring, summer, and autumn), sampling was done from caves, aqueducts, wall gaps, bridges and parks using the mist net in the nighttime and from tombs ceiling, temples ceiling, gable roof of old places and caves gaps using the handmade net in the daytime. A total of 125 live samples (90 male and 35 female bats) were collected. The collected samples were put in special cages and gradually transferred to Animal Bio-Systematic Laboratory of Zanjan University. Using the detection key of morphological studies (Etemad, 1984) and Harrison morphometric studies (Harrison, 1991), the collected samples were first detected in terms of suborder, family, and genus. The biometric method (Moradi, 2009) was used to identify the species. The results of the study showed that four species of rats with four genera including Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, Myotis blythii, Miniopterus schreibersii, Pipistrellus kuhlii from two families of Rhinolophidae and Vespertilionidae aredistributed in these areas of West Azarbayjan province.

Keywords:

Bat , Morphology , Morphometry , Biometry , West Azarbaijan