Species: Antrozous pallidus
Pallid Bat
Species
Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
A large, pale bat with large ears (not joined at base), large eyes, a simple muzzle, and yellowish drab dorsal pelage (palest in deserts, darkest along coast); total length 92-135 mm; tail length 35-53 mm; hind foot length 11-16 mm; ear length 21-37 mm; forearm length 45-60 mm; skull length 18.6-24 mm; mass 13.6-24.1 g in males, 13.9-28.0 g in females (Hermanson and O'Shea 1983).
Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class
Mammalia
Order
Chiroptera
Family
Vespertilionidae
Genus
Antrozous
NatureServe
Classification
Other Global Common Names
Un Murciélago - chauve-souris blonde
Informal Taxonomy
Animals, Vertebrates - Mammals - Bats
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Mammalia - Chiroptera - Vespertilionidae - Antrozous - are present.
Ecology and Life History
A large, pale bat with large ears (not joined at base), large eyes, a simple muzzle, and yellowish drab dorsal pelage (palest in deserts, darkest along coast); total length 92-135 mm; tail length 35-53 mm; hind foot length 11-16 mm; ear length 21-37 mm; forearm length 45-60 mm; skull length 18.6-24 mm; mass 13.6-24.1 g in males, 13.9-28.0 g in females (Hermanson and O'Shea 1983).
Migration
false - true - false - Little information is available (Barbour and Davis 1969, Schmidly 1991). Distances of fall movements are not known, but seems to be somewhat sedentary and probably does not move far between summer and winter roosts (Barbour and Davis 1969).
Non-migrant
false
Locally Migrant
true
Food Comments
Primary diet is arthropods; captures prey on the ground, after an aerial search; also captures some food (large insects) in flight, within a few meters of ground vegetation. Food items include flightless arthropods, Jerusalem crickets, moths, beetles, etc.; may eat small vertebrates. Also visits bat-adapted CAM plants (e.g., AGAVE), probably seeking insects (Herrera et al., 1993, J. Mamm. 74:601-606).
Reproduction Comments
Copulation usually occurs in October-December. Delayed fertilization in spring. In the U.S., young are born in late May-early June in California, mostly late June in Kansas, probably early May to mid-June in Texas (Schmidly 1991). Litter size usually is 2, sometimes 1. Young fly at 6 weeks, weaned in 6-8 weeks (Hermanson and O'Shea 1983). In Oregon, reproductive success was reduced in a year with low spring temperatures (Lewis 1993). Maternity colonies usually are small, but may include up to 200+ adults, may include adult males.
Ecology Comments
A gregarious species. Usually forms clusters in diurnal roosts. May also gather in night roosts that are frequently near, but separate from, day roosts (Lewis 1994). TADARIDA BRASILIENSIS and MYOTIS YUMANENSIS may roost among pallid bats. <br><br>A legitimate pollinator of bat-adapted CAM plants (Herrera et al., 1993, J. Mamm. 74:601-606).
Length
13
Weight
37
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G5
Global Status Last Reviewed
1996-11-05
Global Status Last Changed
1996-11-05
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
<img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?CA.BC=S2&US.AZ=S4&US.CA=S3&US.CO=S4&US.ID=S3&US.KS=S1&US.MT=S2&US.NN=S5&US.NV=S3&US.NM=S5&US.OK=S3&US.OR=S2&US.TX=S5&US.UT=S4&US.WA=S2&US.WY=S1" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
Global Range
H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - Range includes western North America from south-central British Columbia (Okanagan Valley; low numbers, perhaps strays) south through the western United States to southern Baja California, central Mexico, southern Kansas, and southern Texas; also Cuba (Martin and Schmidly 1982, Reid 2006).<br><br>The following subspecies distributions are from Martin and Schmidly (1982). Subspecies <i>pacificus</i>: Pacific Coast Ranges of western Oregon and California south to Los Angeles and San Bernadino counties. Subspecies <i>pallidus</i>: east of the range of <i>pacificus</i> from southern British Columbia and east of the Cascade Range throughout much of the Columbia Plateau and Great Basin, throughout the southwestern U.S. west of central Texas, and south to western and south-central Mexico north of the Transverse Volcanic Cordillera. Subspecies <i>bunkeri</i>: Barber County, Kansas, south to the western end of the Wichita Mountains in Greer County, Oklahoma. Subspecies <i>minor</i>: s. Baja California north through the Colorado Desert of southeastern California and southwestern Arizona, thence northward into southern Nevada. Subspecies <i>packardi</i>: western slopes of the Sierra Madre Occidental in southwestern Zacatecas, Jalisco, northeastern Nayarit, and southern Sonora. Subspecies <i>koopmani</i>: several scattered localities in Cuba.
Global Range Code
H
Global Range Description
>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)