Myotis hajastanicus is a local vicariant of a widespread species rather than a critically endangered endemic of the Sevan lake basin (Armenia)

The Armenian whiskered bat, Myotis hajastanicus, is assumed to represent an independent species with an exceptionally small distribution range that is restricted to the basin of Lake Sevan in the Southern Caucasus. The species has not been recorded during the last 25 years and thus was classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In 2013, we found an extant population of the Armenian whiskered bat and caught one male and eleven pregnant females next to Lake Sevan. Morphological analysis revealed close similarity and largely overlapping phenotypic variation between M. hajastanicus and Myotisaurascens. This morphological similarity and the lack of genetic differentiation in a fast-evolving mitochondrial gene between both taxa strongly argue for a single species (M. aurascens) and the rejection of a local endemism.