Vespertilio 15: 3–36, 2011 ISSN 1213-6123 Rousettus aegyptiacus (Pteropodidae) in the Palaearctic: list of records and revision of the distribution range* Petr BENDA1,2, Mounir ABI-SAID3, Tomáš Bartonička4, Raşit BILGIN5, Kaveh FAIZOLAHI6, Radek K. Lučan2, Haris NICOLAOU7, Antonín REITER8, Wael M. SHOHDI9, Marcel UHRIN10 & Ivan Horáček2 1 Department of Zoology, National Museum (Natural History), Václavské nám. 68, CZ–115 79 Praha 1, Czech Republic;
[email protected] 2 Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, CZ–128 44 Praha 2, Czech Republic 3 Department of Biology, American University of Beirut, Riadh El Solh 1107, 2020 Beirut, Lebanon 4 Department of Botany and Zoology, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, CZ–611 37 Brno, Czech Republic 5 Institute of Environmental Sciences, Bogazici University, Bebek, TR–34342 Istanbul, Turkey 6 Mohitban Society, 2010 Mitra Alley, Shariati Street, Tehran, 1963816163, Iran 7 Forestry Department, Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment, Louki Akrita 24, Nicosia, Cyprus 8 South Moravian Museum in Znojmo, Přemyslovců 8, CZ–669 45 Znojmo, Czech Republic 9 Nature Conservation Egypt & Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt 10 Institute of Biology and Ecology, P. J. Šafárik University, Moyzesova 11, SK–040 01 Košice, Slovakia Abstract. The populations of Rousettus aegyptiacus inhabiting the Palaearctic part of the species range represent the only offshoot of the family Pteropodidae beyond tropics. In this contribution, we revised distribution status of the species in different parts of its Palaearctic range, re-examined the literature data and supplemented them with an extensive set of original records obtained in the field during the last two decades.