Egyptian Slit-faced Bat (Nycteris thebaica) in Oman (2024)

Posted by Paul Carter

SUMMARY: In October 2024 I photographed Egyptian Slit-faced Bat (Nycteris thebaica) at Wadi Darbat east of Salalah in the Dhofar Governate, Oman. Mammal Diversity Database (MDD), iNaturalist (iNat) and IUCN Red List (2017 assessment) do not show it as being present in Oman. I did, however, find four earlier records at two sites (a cave near Rakhyut and Suhoor Cave). My images at Wadi Darbat appear to be the third site and most eastern record for Oman. Distribution data and maps in MDD, iNat and the Red List should be updated to include Oman.

Paul Carter: paulcarter@pacapix.com. Posted 2025 Jan 8.

Records of N. thebaica at Wadi Darbat
My two records are described below with images for both; I was the sole observer. They were seen along the trail that starts at the northern end of the “Wadi Darbat Boating” area car park:
#1 – 2024 Oct 18, 1932h, @ 17.105790°N 54.452950°E (acc. 20m): I photographed one individual about 70 meters along the trail. It had a distinct notch in the margin of the right ear. iNat post.

Egyptian Slit-faced Bat (Nycteris thebaica). Image 20241018-0187.

#2 – 2024 Oct 21, 2141h, @ 17.105377°N 54.452767°E (acc 10m): I saw one individual about 20 meters along the trail. It was initially flying around a thorn-tree / paper-bark tree (seemingly disturbed?) and then settled in that tree, where I photographed it. iNat post.
It had no notch in the right ear and is therefore not the same individual that I photographed on Oct 18. I saw another (or the same one?) in the same area about two hours later that night, at around 2350h, but could not photograph it.

Egyptian Slit-faced Bat (Nycteris thebaica). Image 20241021-0170.
Egyptian Slit-faced Bat (Nycteris thebaica). Image 20241021-0169.
Egyptian Slit-faced Bat (Nycteris thebaica). Image 20241021-0172.

Distribution maps of N. thebaica in Arabia
The range map for N. thebaica, as shown in iNat (2024 Nov 1) and MOL, referred to here as the “iNat range”, is based on Monadjem et al (2017). It does not show N. thebaica as present in Oman. The nearest part of the iNat range is the northeastern tip of Somalia but that is across over 600 km of ocean (Gulf of Aden). The nearest part of the iNat range over land is 900 km to the west in western Yemen.
The nearest iNat record of N. thebaica to Wadi Darbat is by Carlos Bocos in southwestern Saudi Arabia, about 1200 km west of the Salalah records.

Records in Oman of N. thebaica
Referring to MOL (2024) led me to records in GBIF (2024) which led me to records in Observation.org. From these searches I found four records from two sites in Dhofar, Oman:
Site 1: Rakhyut: Two observers on the same day (22 Feb 2018) show images on Observation.org that appear to be the same location which is about 3 km NW of Rakhyut. Both records report 125 individuals and appear to show bats hanging in a cave (name unknown).
The record by Coen Nengerman is dated 2018-02-22 16:53 and shows GPS 16.7559, 53.3961 +/- 50 m. In GBIF this record shows as “User 0143”.
The record by Martijn Bunskoek is with 1 km accuracy and also dated 2018-02-22. In GBIF this record shows as “User 4098”.
Site 2: Suhoor Cave: There are two GBIF records one day apart (3 and 4 March 2020) by EcoHealth Alliance (EHA) that Phelps et al (2024 p5) describe as Suhoor Cave at 17.13N 54.12E which is about 10 km ENE of the airport.

REFERENCES

Prior records in Oman:

A note on the “Field Guide to the Mammals of Oman“ (as at 8 Jan 2025):
This book is shown at NHBS as published in Sep 2024 but whenever I check it is not available. It is presumably late for distribution? I therefore do not know if Nycteris thebaica is reported in that book.