Nyctalus aviator Thomas, 1911

Jo, Yeong-Seok, Baccus, John T. & Koprowski, John L., 2018, Mammals of Korea: a review of their taxonomy, distribution and conservation status, Zootaxa 4522 (1), pp. 1-216 : 50-51

Nyctalus aviator Thomas, 1911 —Bird-like Noctule

Nyctalus aviator Thomas, 1911a p.380; Type locality- Tokyo, Japan; Corbet, 1978 p.56; Han, 1994 p.45; Won & Smith, 1999

p.13; Son, 2001 p.116; Yoon, 2004 p.74; Yoon, 2010 p.60. Ƒespertilio molossus Temminck, 1838 p.269. N. maximus aviator: Kuroda, 1940 p .225. N. lasiopterus aviator: Ellerman & Morrison-Scott, 1951 p .161; Won, 1958 p.456 Won, 1967 p.327; Won, 1968 p.106; Yoon,

1992 p.45. N. lasiopterus: Won, 1968 p .105.

Range: The distribution of this species encompasses most of Korea, but the bird-like noctule remains rare ( Yoon 2010; Fig. 31).

Remarks: Previously, N. aviator was considered a subspecies of N. lasiopterus in Korea ( Won 1967, 1968). Nyctalus lasiopterus and N. aviator are found respectively on the western and eastern sides of the Palearctic region and were previously considered as conspecific ( Tate 1942, Imaizumi 1970). They are now mostly recognized as separate species ( Corbet 1978, Maeda 1983, Simmons 2005). Samples from intermediate geographic locations between Europe and Japan are needed to determine if these two taxa should be treated as separate species or vicariant populations of the same species ( Salgueiro et al. 2007).

Conservation status: IUCN recorded this species as ‘Near Threatened’ but the South Korean government registered N. aviator as a species of ‘Least Concern’ (NIBR 2012).