The mitochondrial genome of Vespertilio murinus was assembled from short Illumina reads

A specimen of Vespertilio murinus was collected on 13 May 2014 from the Breeding Centre for Endangered Arabian Wildlife, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. The species was unambiguously identified based on molecular (Cytochrome b gene) and morphological characters. This represents the first record of V. murinus from the Arabian Peninsula. A revised checklist of the Vespertilionidae is presented for the Arabian Peninsula which includes 28 species belonging to 11 genera. A phylogeny for the Arabian vespertilionid species is also presented showing the paraphyly of Eptesicus and the position of Nyctalus within Pipistrellus.