BatLab Finland

INTRODUCTION Bats constitute a globally diverse taxon, comprising one fifth of all mammals on Earth (Simmons & Cirranello, 2024). Flight has enabled bats to inhabit and exploit diverse environments and roost structures.

Samples for DNA extraction were obtained from existing collections of the authors. No bats were sampled as a part of the present study. Eleven out of the twelve species sampled represent the main lineages of Myotis from the Palearctic clade (M. bechsteinii, M. daubentonii, M. brandtii, M. mystacinus, M. dasycneme, M. frater, M. pequinus, M. petax, M. myotis, M. nattereri, M. ikonnikovi) with distributions ranging from the Iberian Peninsula to Japan (See Fig. 1).

A BAT FUNGAL DISEASE White-nose disease (WND) is a fungal disease affecting hibernating bats (Blehert et al., 2009), currently considered one of the most detrimental wildlife diseases of modern times (Frick et al., 2016).