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A list of 139 specimens of bats belonging to 32 species of eight families originating from Zambia, housed in the collection of the National Museum, Prague, Czech Republic, is presented in a systematical review. The species lists are... more
A list of 139 specimens of bats belonging to 32 species of eight families originating from Zambia, housed in the collection of the National Museum, Prague, Czech Republic, is presented in a systematical review. The species lists are complemented by comments on distribution and morphometry data. The specimens represent 73 new records (species vs. locality) of bats from Zambia. The collection contains two species new for the Zambian fauna, Afropipistrellus grandidieri and Neoromicia somalica. Two species, Rhinolophus sakejiensis and Chaerephon bivittatus are documented for the second time from Zambia, the former bat for the first time after the species description at all. The record localities of Epomophorus labiatus, Rhinolophus mossambicus, and Neoromicia somalica shift margins of the whole known distribution ranges of these bats. In Epomophorus dobsonii, Nyctinomus aegyptiacus, Glauconycteris variegata, Pipistrellus rusticus, Scotophilus leucogaster, and S. viridis, the collection ...
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The soft ticks of the genus Reticulinasus Schulze, 1941 (family Argasidae Koch, 1844) are ectoparasites of various bat species of the Afrotropic, Australasian, and Oriental regions. Reticulinasus salahi (Hoogstraal, 1953) is the only... more
The soft ticks of the genus Reticulinasus Schulze, 1941 (family Argasidae Koch, 1844) are ectoparasites of various bat species of the Afrotropic, Australasian, and Oriental regions. Reticulinasus salahi (Hoogstraal, 1953) is the only representative of the genus that occurs in the western part of the Palaearctic. This unusual distribution reflects the home range of its primary host, Rousettus aegyptiacus (Geoffroy, 1810) from the family Pteropodidae. However, the complete summary of available records and a review of the host species, including re-determination of the originally reported hosts and new records, prove that this parasite occurs also in areas exceeding the distribution range of R. aegyptiacus. Besides the primary host, the occurrence was confirmed also on bats of the families Vespertilionidae and Emballonuridae, Otonycteris hemprichii Peters, 1859 and Taphozous perforatus Geoffroy, 1818. Since O. hemprichii and R. aegyptiacus forage in different habitats and also their na...
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The Geoffroy’s bat, Myotis emarginatus, is the only species distributed in the Palaearctic belonging to the African clade of the genus Myotis. It occurs extensively across several ecologic zones of Europe, north-western Africa, and... more
The Geoffroy’s bat, Myotis emarginatus, is the only species distributed in the Palaearctic belonging to the African clade of the genus Myotis. It occurs extensively across several ecologic zones of Europe, north-western Africa, and western and central Asia, and hence it was considered to be a polytypic species. Only one subspecies was reported from Europe and North Africa, up to four subspecies were recognised in Asia. However, the validity of particular taxa as well as the systematic positions of different populations remained ambiguous. Here we present a revision of the intraspecific phylogenetic structure of M. emarginatus based on combination of the available results of a molecular genetic analysis with the results of a thorough morphologic examination of an extensive specimen set from almost the whole range of its distribution. The previously described geographic variability in the mitochondrial markers demonstrated grouping of haplotypes of M. emarginatus into three main linea...
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The oldest nomenclatural history of the lesser horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hipposideros) is summarised and discussed. Our search of literature showed that the author of the species name Rhinolophus hipposideros is André (1797); in the work... more
The oldest nomenclatural history of the lesser horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hipposideros) is summarised and discussed. Our search of literature showed that the author of the species name Rhinolophus hipposideros is André (1797); in the work Der Zoologe, oder Compendiöse Bibliothek des wissenswürdigsten aus der Thiergeschichte und allgemeinen Naturkunde published by 19 April 1797, André (1797: 65) used the name Noctilio Hipposideros and labelled it with “mihi”. André’s (1797) work takes priority over Deutsche Fauna oder kurzgefaßte Naturgeschichte der Thiere Deutschlands by Borkhausen (1797) to which the creation of the name Noctilio Hipposideros has been attributed; the publication date of the latter work for the purposes of zoological nomenclature is 30 September 1797. Revised dating is provided for the second volume of Bechstein’s translation of Pennant’s History of Quadrupeds to which the description of Rhinolophus hipposideros was also formerly assigned: Thomas Pennant’s allgemein...
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A list of 1,673 specimens of bats belonging to 36 species, seven genera, and five families of the superfamily Rhinolophoidea, housed in the collection of the National Museum, Prague, Czech Republic, is presented in a systematic review.
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František Palacký (1798–1876), a historian and politician, was one of the most eminent personalities of the Czech society of the 19th century. He died on 26 May 1876 in Prague and on 30 May 1876, in the evening before the burial, the... more
František Palacký (1798–1876), a historian and politician, was one of the most eminent personalities of the Czech society of the 19th century. He died on 26 May 1876 in Prague and on 30 May 1876, in the evening before the burial, the Palacký’s head was dissected and his brain was extracted and preserved as a liquid preparation. Then, it was deposited in the Museum of the Kingdom of Bohemia (present National Museum) in Prague; currently it is stored in a jar concealed in a wall niche of a column (next to a large statue of Palacký) in the Pantheon hall of the historical building of the National Museum on the Wenceslaus square in Prague. The investigation of the Museum archive brought some documents which elucidate certain parts of the history of the Palacký’s brain preparation, although its whereabouts during other periods still remain hidden. For several years after its extraction, the Palacký’s brain was deposited in the Museum library, and between the years 1878–1899 (most probably...
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A complete skeleton of the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) from an animal ca. 13–14 m long is here reported as a new acquisition to the collection of mammals of the National Museum in Prague. This large new specimen was transferred... more
A complete skeleton of the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) from an animal ca. 13–14 m long is here reported as a new acquisition to the collection of mammals of the National Museum in Prague. This large new specimen was transferred to Prague museum from the Zoological museum of Senckenberg Natural History Collection Dresden, Germany, where a space enough was not available in the collection depositary rooms for its storage (the skull was stored outdoors, the rest of the skeleton in a taxidermy workshop). The skeleton originates from a stranded individual of the sperm whale discovered (along with two others) on the North Sea shore at Friedrichskoog (Holstein, Germany) on 15 January 2002. Selected measurements of the skull of this sperm whale are as follows: condylobasal length of skull 418 cm, orbital width of skull 196 cm, basal width of rostrum 144 cm, length of left mandible 374 cm, mandible height at the ramus mandibulae 58 cm. An annotated review of museum specimens of the g...
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The soft ticks of the genus Reticulinasus Schulze, 1941 (family Argasidae Koch, 1844) are ectoparasites of the fruit bats of the Old World (Pteropodidae). Reticulinasus salahi (Hoogstraal, 1953) is the only representative of this genus... more
The soft ticks of the genus Reticulinasus Schulze, 1941 (family Argasidae Koch, 1844) are ectoparasites of the fruit bats of the Old World (Pteropodidae). Reticulinasus salahi (Hoogstraal, 1953) is the only representative of this genus that occurs in the western part of the Palaearctic. This unusual distribution reflects the distributon range of its primary host, Rousettus aegyptiacus (Geoffroy, 1810). In this contribution, we present a revised review of records of this tick that were made in two periods, 1951–1966 (records from Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Spain) and 2005–2019 (Cyprus, Iran, Oman), and additionally, we present notes, re-determinations, new records, and summary of hosts of this tick. Besides the primary host, the revised list of hosts comprises two bats (Taphozous perforatus Geoffroy, 1818, Otonycteris hemprichii Peters, 1859) and the human (Homo sapiens Linnaeus, 1758). We also tried to identify pathogens in specimens of this tick collected from R. aegyptiacus in Oman. T...
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Specimens of Equus przewalskii in the collection of the National Museum, Prague, Czech Republic (Perissodactyla: Equidae). A complete list of 50 specimens of the Przewalski’s horse (Equus przewalskii) housed in the collection of the... more
Specimens of Equus przewalskii in the collection of the National Museum, Prague, Czech Republic (Perissodactyla: Equidae). A complete list of 50 specimens of the Przewalski’s horse (Equus przewalskii) housed in the collection of the National Museum, Prague, is presented. It consists of two complete skeletons, twelve partial skeletons, 20 skins (two of them mounted), and 40 skulls.
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ferrumequinum: contrasting results from mitochondrial and microsatellite data
Bats of four islands of the Dodecanese Archipelago (Astypalea, Kalymnos, Symi, Megisti) were studied for the first time. The bat fauna of these islands comprises eleven species and the faunas of the particular islands are composed of five... more
Bats of four islands of the Dodecanese Archipelago (Astypalea, Kalymnos, Symi, Megisti) were studied for the first time. The bat fauna of these islands comprises eleven species and the faunas of the particular islands are composed of five (on Astypalea) to nine (on Symi) species. Three species of bats, Rhinolophus blasii, Pipistrellus pipistrellus and P. kuhlii, were found in all four islands, two species, Hypsugo savii and Tadarida teniotis in three islands, and Eptesicus anatolicus and Plecotus kolombatovici in two islands. The remaining four species, Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, Myotis blythii, M. emarginatus, and Miniopterus schreibersii, are known from only one island each.
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Fourteen specimens of the small-sized representatives of the genus Rhinolophus (all originally identified as R. hipposideros) originating in West Turkestan were found in the mammal collection of the Zoological Museum of the Moscow State... more
Fourteen specimens of the small-sized representatives of the genus Rhinolophus (all originally identified as R. hipposideros) originating in West Turkestan were found in the mammal collection of the Zoological Museum of the Moscow State University (ZMMU) and examined for potential presence of Rhinolopus lepidus. The examination showed two species within this set of specimens, five R. hipposideros (from Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan) and nine R. lepidus (coming from Uzbekistan, Kirghizstan and Tajikistan). This revision brought four new locality records of R. lepidus from West Turkestan, now known from this region from nine sites in total. Two ZMMU records from Uzbekistan newly delimited the northern and western margins of the known distribution range of this bat in West Turkestan, shifting the northern margin by some 150 km further to the north (Ugom river valley in the Tian Shan Mts., ca. 41° 43’ N) and the western margin by ca. 30 km to the west (Sentâb in the Nuratau Mt...
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A complete list of bat records available from Northern Cyprus is presented, based on both limited literature and new records, resulting from a recent field survey conducted mainly in 2018. This review is complemented by distribution maps... more
A complete list of bat records available from Northern Cyprus is presented, based on both limited literature and new records, resulting from a recent field survey conducted mainly in 2018. This review is complemented by distribution maps and summaries of the distributional status of particular species. From the northern part of the island of Cyprus, at least 451 records of 21 bat species are available; viz. Rousettus aegyptiacus (26 record localities), Rhinolophus ferrumequinum (19), R. hipposideros (21), R. euryale (5), R. mehelyi (1), R. blasii (12), Myotis blythii (4), M. nattereri (10), M. emarginatus (3), M. capaccinii (1), Eptesicus serotinus (5), E. anatolicus (1), Hypsugo savii (6), Pipistrellus pipistrellus (50), P. pygmaeus (9), P. kuhlii (265), Nyctalus leisleri (1), N. lasiopterus (1), Plecotus kolombatovici (3), Miniopterus schreibersii (4), and Tadarida teniotis (5). The number of records increased elevenfold and 1.5 times more bat species were found compared to the la...
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The paper presents results of a first attempt to survey bats of the Alatish National Park (northwestern Ethiopia). Twenty-one bat species belonging to eight families and twelve genera were documented for the first time in the Park, at... more
The paper presents results of a first attempt to survey bats of the Alatish National Park (northwestern Ethiopia). Twenty-one bat species belonging to eight families and twelve genera were documented for the first time in the Park, at least two bat species (Hipposideros abae, Pipistrellus nanulus) were found new for the fauna of Ethiopia. The Alatish National Park is an area of high conservation value due to its high bat species diversity and a complex structure of the fauna including elements with various zoogeographic affinities.
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The bat fauna of United Arab Emirates (UAE) has so far received very little attention. This paper presents a review of published records and voucher specimens in museum collections. We reviewed 39 references and identified 116 records... more
The bat fauna of United Arab Emirates (UAE) has so far received very little attention. This paper presents a review of published records and voucher specimens in museum collections. We reviewed 39 references and identified 116 records concerning nine species belonging to five families. Fifteen of these records mention 71 specimens of six species in collections. Distribution maps of known locations are provided for each species. Most records (70%) date back more than 10 years and two species have not been recorded for more than 40 years. Based on the bat fauna of Oman, a more thoroughly investigated neighbouring country, the presence of at least nine other, still unrecorded, species is expected. The status of bats in UAE and their conservation concerns are discussed. We encourage further field studies of the bat fauna of UAE.
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Savi's pipistrelle Hypsugo savii is a Mediterranean faunal element among the bats; it occurs in southern Europe, the Canary Islands, north‐western Africa, most of the Mediterranean islands, in the northern part of the Middle East, in... more
Savi's pipistrelle Hypsugo savii is a Mediterranean faunal element among the bats; it occurs in southern Europe, the Canary Islands, north‐western Africa, most of the Mediterranean islands, in the northern part of the Middle East, in the Crimea, Caucasus, West Turkestan, and northern Afghanistan. The northern margin of its geographical range in Europe reaches the Pyrenees, Massif Central, southern Alps, Dalmatia, Balkan Mountains and southern Crimea, like that of other similar biogeographical elements. Since the 1990s, Hypsugo savii started to be found in inland areas of south‐eastern Europe and in Central Europe as far northwards as in central Bohemia and southern Poland. These numerous new occurrences seem to be either 1) connected to environmental changes caused by the current climate change; 2) evidence of an intrinsic expansion process powered by the species' synanthropic tendency, including passive human‐mediated transport; or 3) a reflection of the increase in field s...
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Bats of Greece have been studied since the second half of the 19th century. Their distribution and ecology, however, remain poorly understood. Conservation efforts for the protection of the roosting and foraging habitats of their... more
Bats of Greece have been studied since the second half of the 19th century. Their distribution and ecology, however, remain poorly understood. Conservation efforts for the protection of the roosting and foraging habitats of their populations in Greece are limited. To date, 35 bat species have been recorded from Greece. Four species (Eptesicus anatolicus, Plecotus auritus, Myotis brandtii and Rousettus aegyptiacus) have a limited distribution in the country and the presence of one species (Myotis mystacinus) requires verification. The present study summarises all existing knowledge and adds several hundred new records on the distribution of bats of Greece. Additionally, it provides a summary of new insights on various aspects of their roosting ecology, foraging habitat use, altitudinal distribution, winter activity and landscape characteristics around major roosts. Finally, it discusses the current research and conservation needs of Greek bats.
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The leishmaniases, a group of diseases with a worldwide-distribution, are caused by different species of Leishmania parasites. Both cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis remains important public health problems in Ethiopia. Epidemiological... more
The leishmaniases, a group of diseases with a worldwide-distribution, are caused by different species of Leishmania parasites. Both cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis remains important public health problems in Ethiopia. Epidemiological cycles of these protozoans involve various sand fly (Diptera: Psychodidae) vectors and mammalian hosts, including humans. In recent years, Leishmania infections in bats have been reported in the New World countries endemic to leishmaniasis. The aim of this study was to survey natural Leishmania infection in bats collected from various regions of Ethiopia. Total DNA was isolated from spleens of 163 bats belonging to 23 species and 18 genera. Leishmania infection was detected by real-time (RT) PCR targeting a kinetoplast (k) DNA and internal transcribed spacer one (ITS1) gene of the parasite. Detection was confirmed by sequencing of the PCR products. Leishmania kDNA was detected in eight (4.9%) bats; four of them had been captured in the Aba-Roba and...
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Benda, Petr, Vallo, Peter (2012): New look on the geographical variation in Rhinolophus clivosus with description of a new horseshoe bat species from Cyrenaica, Libya. Vespertilio 16: 69-96, DOI: http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4247720
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Masaryk University (Brno, Czech Republic).
K výskytu netopýra turanského (Eptesicus bobrinskoi) na Blízkém východě
A profound morphologic comparison of smaller representatives of the genus Eptesicus inha- biting the western Palaearctic (E. bobrinskoi, E. gobiensis, E. nasutus, and E. nilssonii) confirmed the occurrence of Eptesicus bobrinskoi in NW... more
A profound morphologic comparison of smaller representatives of the genus Eptesicus inha- biting the western Palaearctic (E. bobrinskoi, E. gobiensis, E. nasutus, and E. nilssonii) confirmed the occurrence of Eptesicus bobrinskoi in NW Iran. Although it was previously not fully accepted, a revision of the collection material as well as of specimens newly recorded in Iran brought evidence showing that the doubts were unjustified.
Research Interests: Geography and Middle East
An addendum to the previously published list of cetacean specimens in several Czech collections (ROBOVSKÝ & BENDA 2006) is given, based on a detailed survey across a large number of institutions (mu- seums, castles, churches, etc.). In... more
An addendum to the previously published list of cetacean specimens in several Czech collections (ROBOVSKÝ & BENDA 2006) is given, based on a detailed survey across a large number of institutions (mu- seums, castles, churches, etc.). In the collection of National Museum Praha (NMP), we found additional skulls of Delphinapterus leucas, Globicephala melas, Monodon monoceros and Orcinus orca; we also identified taxonomic status of two NMP specimens inaccurately mentioned in the previous paper, Inia ge- offrensis geoffrensis (skull) and Platanista gangetica s. str. (skeleton). Additional cetacean specimens were found and documented in some smaller collections. The most significant identified items include a skull of Platanista gangetica s. str. and two isolated teeth of Physeter catodon from the Municipal Museum in Caslav, a skull of Pontoporia blainvillei from the Zoological Museum in Protivin, two isolated auditory bullae of a large whale from the Museum of Eastern Bohemia, Hradec Kral...
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New data on the distribution of bats of the Myotis mystacinus morpho-group in certain parts of the Mediterranean region are given and some morphological characters of these populations are analysed and discussed. Statistic comparison... more
New data on the distribution of bats of the Myotis mystacinus morpho-group in certain parts of the Mediterranean region are given and some morphological characters of these populations are analysed and discussed. Statistic comparison (PCA) suggests the distribution of M. mystacinus s. str. in the Balkans, along with M. alcathoe, M. aurascens and M. brandtii. The records of M. brandtii and M. mystacinus s. str. in central Anatolia, Turkey, are reported for the fi rst time. These records suggest a continuous distribution of these species from the Balkans to the Caucasus, while their insulated occurrence in the Caucasus region seems to be unlikely (contra BENDA & TSYTSULINA 2000). M. aurascens is reported from whole Anatolia and from Syria according to the revised and/or newly collected material. Second and third records of M. aurascens in Italy are reported as well as a verifi cation of a M. brandtii record in Tuscany (after LANZA 1959). The taxonomic status of the Moroccan population...
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A complete list of bat records available from Jordan was compiled from literature and from new records, based on field studies and examination of museum specimens. The record review is complemented by distribution maps, summaries of... more
A complete list of bat records available from Jordan was compiled from literature and from new records, based on field studies and examination of museum specimens. The record review is complemented by distribution maps, summaries of distributional status of the particular species, files of field observations, and data on feeding ecology. Basic descriptive echolocation parameters for 17 species (782 calls from 134 call sequences analysed) are given and discussed. Arthropod ectoparasites were collected from 14 bat species. In some species sheets, notes concerning variation of the Levantine populations are added. From the territory of the modern Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, 289 records of 26 bat species belonging to nine families are known; viz. Rousettus aegyptiacus (Geoffroy, 1810) (21 record sites), Rhinopoma microphyllum (Brünnich, 1782) (4), R. cystops Thomas, 1903 (21), Taphozous perforatus Geoffroy, 1818 (7), T. nudiventris Cretzschmar, 1830 (6), Nycteris thebaica (Geoffroy, 180...
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During several hours of acoustic survey of bats in Borgo Maggiore, San Marino, on 30 August 2020, foraging activity of at least six bat species was recorded. Five of them (Eptesicus serotinus, Hypsugo savii, Pipistrellus pipistrellus, P.... more
During several hours of acoustic survey of bats in Borgo Maggiore, San Marino, on 30 August 2020, foraging activity of at least six bat species was recorded. Five of them (Eptesicus serotinus, Hypsugo savii, Pipistrellus pipistrellus, P. kuhlii, and Tadarida teniotis) are common and widespread across the Apennine Peninsula and are already known members of the bat fauna of San Marino. The sixth species, Nyctalus noctula, is here reported from this country for the first time and the bat fauna of San Marino increases to 18 species.
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The syndrome of ear pinnae absence was recorded in three individuals of the black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) among 71 observed (4.2%) in the Etosha National Park, Namibia, during eight visits in 2013–2020. In two cases, the syndrome... more
The syndrome of ear pinnae absence was recorded in three individuals of the black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) among 71 observed (4.2%) in the Etosha National Park, Namibia, during eight visits in 2013–2020. In two cases, the syndrome comprised bilateral absence of the pinna and certain damage of the tail, while in one case, only unilateral lack of the ear pinna was recorded without any damage of the other pinna and tail.
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All 100+ bedbug species (Cimicidae) are obligate blood-sucking parasites and well-known for their habit of traumatic insemination but the evolutionary trajectory of these characters is unknown. Our new, fossil-dated, molecular phylogeny... more
All 100+ bedbug species (Cimicidae) are obligate blood-sucking parasites and well-known for their habit of traumatic insemination but the evolutionary trajectory of these characters is unknown. Our new, fossil-dated, molecular phylogeny estimates that ancestral Cimicidae evolved ca. 115MYA as hematophagous specialists on an unidentified host, 50MY before bats, switching to bats and birds thereafter. Humans were independently colonized three times and our phylogeny rejects the idea that the divergence of the two current urban pests (Cimex lectulariusandC. hemipterus) 47MYA was associated with the divergence ofHomo sapiensandH. erectus(1.6MYA). The female’s functional reproductive tract is unusually diverse and heterotopic, despite the unusual and strong morphological stasis of the male genitalia. This sex-reversal in genital co-variation is incompatible with current models of genital evolution. The evolutionary trait diversification in cimicids allowed us to uncover fascinating biolo...
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Endogenous retrovirus (ERV) sequences provide a rich source of information about the long-term interactions between retroviruses and their hosts. However, most ERVs are derived from a subset of retrovirus groups, while ERVs derived from... more
Endogenous retrovirus (ERV) sequences provide a rich source of information about the long-term interactions between retroviruses and their hosts. However, most ERVs are derived from a subset of retrovirus groups, while ERVs derived from certain other groups remain extremely rare. In particular, only a single ERV sequence has been identified that shows evidence of being related to an ancient , despite the large number of vertebrate genome sequences now available. In this report, we identify a second example of an ERV sequence putatively derived from a past deltaretroviral infection, in the genomes of several species of horseshoe bats (Rhinolophidae). This sequence represents a fragment of viral genome derived from a single integration. The time of the integration was estimated to be 11-19 million years ago. This finding, together with the previously identified endogenous in long-fingered bats (Miniopteridae), suggest a close association of bats with ancient deltaretroviruses.
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Recent elevation in the rank of J.E. Gray's (1866) 'Leaf-nosed Bats' the Rhinonycterina to family level recognised the phylogenetic uniqueness of bats in the extant genera Cloeotis, Paratriaenops, Rhinonicteris and Triaenops,... more
Recent elevation in the rank of J.E. Gray's (1866) 'Leaf-nosed Bats' the Rhinonycterina to family level recognised the phylogenetic uniqueness of bats in the extant genera Cloeotis, Paratriaenops, Rhinonicteris and Triaenops, and the fossil genera Brachipposideros and Brevipalatus (Foley et al. 2015). In the systematic summary of that paper, attention was drawn to the issue of correct nomenclature because of past ambiguity around the appropriate spelling of the type genus Rhinonicteris (see also Simmons 2005; Armstrong 2006). However, no suggestion was made for the common name of the Rhinonycteridae, and that used for the Hipposideridae was simply duplicated-'Old World Leaf-nosed Bats'. It would be helpful for this newly distinguished family to have its own appellation-to avoid unnecessary confusion in the wider literature, and to recognise its distinctiveness and evolutionary history.
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Significance Retroviruses copy their RNA genome into complementary DNA, which is then inserted into the host chromosomal DNA as an obligatory part of their life cycle. Such integrated viral sequences, called proviruses, are passed to the... more
Significance Retroviruses copy their RNA genome into complementary DNA, which is then inserted into the host chromosomal DNA as an obligatory part of their life cycle. Such integrated viral sequences, called proviruses, are passed to the infected cell progeny on cellular division. If germline cells are targeted, the proviruses become vertically inherited as other host genes and are called endogenous retroviruses. Deltaretroviruses, which include important human and veterinary pathogens (HTLV-1 and BLV), are the last retroviral genus for which endogenous forms were not known. We have identified a case of endogenous Deltaretrovirus, which entered the genome of long-fingered bat ancestors more than 20 million years ago. This finding opens the way for elucidating the deep evolutionary history of deltaretroviruses.