Identification of four <i>Plecotus</i> species (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae) in Croatia based on cranial characters

Abstract

Abstract In this study, we performed a craniometric analysis on four Plecotus species from Croatia ( Plecotus macrobullaris , Plecotus kolombatovici , Plecotus austriacus , and Plecotus auritus ). The main objective of this study was to find a set of morphological characters that could enable a clear identification of the four Plecotus species in order to identify material consisting only of skulls or their parts. Discriminant function analyses were performed on all measurements. Complete separation of four species was possible only by discriminant functions that used 13 cranial and two teeth measurements. Also, we provided a two-step identification tool that used four (first step) and nine (second step) measurements. This simpler identification function could prove to be very useful for identifying broken or incomplete skull material.