(Peters, 1869)
Botta's Serotine
External characters (Table 81)
This species (Ebo2) is essentially similar in structure to E. serotinus (Ese1) but smaller, with a forearm length of 42.1 mm. The pelage on the head, back and flanks is a light creamy-buff with dark hair roots. The throat and belly are pale grey, with whitish tips to the hairs and dark roots (Ebo4). The ears, naked areas of the muzzle and membranes are dark brown, distinctly darker than the pelage (Ebo3). The feet are relatively large. The baculum is minute; it has a simple tip and a broad base (Fig. 173).
Cranial characters
The skull is much smaller and less heavily ridged than that of E. serotinus (BW25), with a condylo-canine length of 15.0 mm. The rostrum is broad, flattened and with shallow lateral concavities; it has a well marked median groove between the orbits. The lachrymal projections are less evident than those of E. serotinus . The braincase is ovoid with only faint mastoid projections postero-laterally. The lambda is not prominent and the slightly convex supraoccipital just forms the most posterior part of the skull. The sagittal crest is most developed posteriorly, although absent in some specimens. The tympanic bullae are relatively large in comparison to those of E. serotinus and in consequence the basioccipital is narrower. In the mandible, the posterior border of each coronoid process declines less steeply to the condyle than that of E. serotinus .
Dentition
Upper toothrow length (C-M3) is 5.8 mm. The dentition is smaller but essentially similar to that of E. serotinus , although M3 is less reduced, with a metacone and three well developed commissures. The talonid of m3 is relatively less reduced than that of E. serotinus ; it is however still smaller than the trigonid.
Variation
Specimens from Pakistan and Afghanistan are provisionally referred to E. b. ognevi (Ebo1, Ebo5).