First record of the lesser horseshoe bat, Rhinolophus hipposideros (Borkhausen, 1797), in Libya and potential distribution in North Africa

The lesser horseshoe bat has a broad distribution in warm temperate regions of Europe and Western Asia, and a patchy distribution in Africa. Common in the north-western part of North Africa, the species is missing more to the east. Hereby we report the first record in Libya, considerably extending its known geographic range. Additionally, we performed a species distribution modelling (SDM) analysis to explore its potential distribution in North Africa. The final SDM depicted a relatively well-known distribution and predicted that the suitable bioclimatic areas for this species are essentially found within the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome.

Automated summary

The lesser horseshoe bat has a broad distribution in warm temperate regions of Europe and Western Asia, and a patchy distribution in Africa. The first record of this species in Libya significantly expands its known geographic range. The species distribution modelling analysis suggests that the suitable habitat for this bat is mainly found within the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome in North Africa.