2003: Long-eared bats, genus Plecotus (Mammalia: Chiroptera), in Bulgaria: a revision of systematic and distributional status. Časopis Národního Muzea, Řada Přírodovědná 172

A b s t r a c t. In the morphological analysis, all available museum material of long-eared bats coming from the territory of Bulgaria, nominately identified as P. auritus (12 specimens) and P. austriacus (69), was compared with four species of Plecotus from Central Europe, the Balkans and Asia Minor. According to the results of the analysis, only two species can be considered as verified to occur in the territory of Bul-garia – P. auritus and P. austriacus. Unlike in Central Europe, P. auritus is restricted to mountain ranges in Bulgaria; most of its records (86%) come from the elevation of more than 1000 m a.s.l. (mean altitude is 1202 m a.s.l.). On the contrary, P. austriacus is a species of low altitudes, occurring at elevations ex-ceeding 1000 m a.s.l. only exceptionally (mean altitude is 465 m a.s.l.). Mammalia, Chiroptera, Plecotus, systematics, distribution, Bulgaria