Species: Myotis volans
Long-legged Myotis
Species
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Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
Articles:
This article originally appeared in the State of Washington Bat Conservation Plan. Further information is available from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife recently released a Bat Conservation Plan for the 15 species of bats found in Washington State. All but four of these species occur within the greater Puget Sound watershed1, including:
Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class
Mammalia
Order
Chiroptera
Family
Vespertilionidae
Genus
Myotis
NatureServe
Classification
Other Global Common Names
Long-legged Bat - Un Murciélago - chauve-souris à longues pattes
Informal Taxonomy
Animals, Vertebrates - Mammals - Bats
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Mammalia - Chiroptera - Vespertilionidae - Myotis - from southeastern Alaska, British Columbia and Alberta southwest to western California.
Ecology and Life History
Short General Description
A small bat (long-legged myotis).
Migration
false - false - false - Adults and young leave the maternity colonies in fall but nothing is known of their subsequent movements (Barbour and Davis 1969).
Non-migrant
false
Locally Migrant
false
Food Comments
Feeds primarily on moths. Also consumes a wide variety of invertebrates: fleas, termites, lacewings, wasps, small beetles, etc. (Warner and Czaplewski 1984). Follows prey for relatively long distances around, through, over forest canopy, forest clearings, and over water. In New Mexico, forages primarily in open areas, feeds mainly on small moths (Black 1974).
Reproduction Comments
In New Mexico, copulation was noted to begin in late August; sperm stored overwinter in female reproductive tract; ovulation occurred March-May, parturition May-August (Black 1974). Births probably occur in June or early July in Texas (Schmidly 1991). Litter size: 1. Nursery colonies may include up to several hundred individuals.
Ecology Comments
In many areas this <i>Myotis</i> may be the most abundant species; it is the common <i>Myotis</i> in the western U.S. Life span of 21 years recorded in the wild.
Length
10
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G5
Global Status Last Reviewed
2008-01-04
Global Status Last Changed
1998-08-04
Other Status
LC - Least concern
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
<img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?CA.AB=S2&CA.BC=S4&CA.NT=S2&US.AK=__&US.AZ=S3&US.CA=S4&US.CO=S5&US.ID=S3&US.MT=S4&US.NN=S4&US.NE=S1&US.NV=S4&US.NM=S5&US.ND=SU&US.OR=S3&US.SD=S5&US.TX=S4&US.UT=S4&US.WA=S3&US.WY=S3" 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 southwestern Alaska, British Columbia, and Alberta south to Baja California and central Mexico (Jalisco, Veracruz, Nuevo Leon). This species occurs throughout the western United States from the Pacific coast to western North Dakota and extreme western Texas (Barbour and Davis 1969, Western Bat Working Group 1998, Bat Conservation International 1998, Adams 2003, Reid 2006).
Global Range Code
H
Global Range Description
>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)