About
Bats are mammals that are mainly active at night. Contrary to popular belief, they are not flying rodents, they are actually in a group called chiroptera.
Bats are misunderstood, especially in Cyprus, where they were perceived as pests and were actively hunted. Insect-eating bats can offer our ecosystems many services: from eating the annoying mosquitos at home, to giving us more crop yields by eating pest insects. Moreover, fruitbats consume overripe fruit and disperse seeds.
The presence of 19 bat species has been confirmed for the island of Cyprus, belonging to 9 different families, and there are reports and lower-confidence occurences of 5 more species. Only one of these species eats fruit, the Egyptian fruit bat, and the rest of them eat insects. Below we list all possibly occuring species in Cyprus:
| # | Common Name | Scientific Name |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anatolian serotine bat | Eptesicus anatolicus |
| 2 | Serotine bat | Eptesicus serotinus |
| 3 | Schreiber's bat | Miniopterus schreibersii |
| 4 | Lesser mouse-eared bat | Myotis blythii |
| 5 | Long-fingered bat | Myotis capaccinii |
| 6 | Lesser mouse-eared bat | Myotis emarginatus |
| 7 | Greater mouse-eared bat | Myotis myotis |
| 8 | Natterer's bat | Myotis nattereri |
| 9 | Greater noctule bat | Nyctalus lasiopterus |
| 10 | Leisler's bat | Nyctalus leisleri |
| 11 | Noctule bat | Nyctalus noctula |
| 12 | Kuhl's pipistrelle | Pipistrellus kuhli |
| 13 | Common pipistrelle | Pipistrellus pipistrellus |
| 14 | Soprano pipistrelle | Pipistrellus pygmaeus |
| 15 | Savi's pipistrelle | Pipistrellus savii |
| 16 | Grey long-eared bat | Plecotus austriacus |
| 17 | Mediterranean long-eared bat | Plecotus kolombatovici |
| 18 | Blasius's horseshoe bat | Rhinolophus blasii |
| 19 | Mediterranean horseshoe bat | Rhinolophus euryale |
| 20 | Greater horseshoe bat | Rhinolophus ferrumequinum |
| 21 | Lesser horsehoe bat | Rhinolophus hipposideros |
| 22 | Mehely's horseshoe bat | Rhinolophus mehelyi |
| 23 | Egyptian fruit bat | Rousettus aegyptiacus |
| 24 | European free-tailed bat | Tadarida teniotis |
