​This volume provides comprehensive overviews of each European bat species’ biology including palaeontology, physiology, genetics, reproduction and development, ecology, habitat, diet, mortality and age determination. Their economic significance and management, as well as future challenges for research and conservation are also addressed. Each chapter includes a distribution map, a photograph of the animal and key literature. This authoritative volume of the Handbook of the Mammals of Europe is a timely and detailed compilation of all European bats and will appeal to academics, students and professionals in mammal research.

Danilo Russo is an animal ecologist mainly working on vertebrates (especially bats and more recently rodents) but also on a flagship long-horned beetle, the Rosalia longicorn (Rosalia alpina). His research interests cover a range of topics, including habitat selection, resource partitioning, sensory ecology, social behaviour, evolutionary biology, biogeography and conservation biology. He is currently leading Wildlife Research Unit at University of Naples Federico II.