Spotted bat

Spotted bat
Side view of spotted bat Euderma maculatum
Conservation status

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Chiroptera
Family: Vespertilionidae
Genus: Euderma
H. Allen, 1892
Species: Euderma maculatum
Binomial name
Euderma maculatum
(Allen, 1891)
Synonyms

Euderma maculata (Allen, 1891)
Histiotus maculatus (Allen, 1891)

The Spotted bat (Euderma maculatum), is a bat species from the family of vesper bats.

Description

The spotted bat was first described by zoologist Joel Asaph Allen from the American Museum of Natural History in 1891. It can reach a length of 12 cm and a wingspan of 35 cm. The weight is about 15 g. It has three distinctive white spots on its black back. With ears that can grow up to 4 cm, it is said to have the largest ears of any bat species in North America.[2] The spotted bat's mating season is in autumn and the females produce their offspring (usually one juvenile) in June or July. Their main diet is grasshoppers and moths.

Habitat

The habitats of the spotted bat are undisturbed roosts on cliffs along the Grand Canyon in Arizona, as well as open and dense deciduous and coniferous forests, hay fields, deserts, marshes, riparian areas and dry shrub-steppe grasslands in Arizona, California, Colorado, Utah, and British Columbia, Canada.

Threats

Use of pesticides such as DDT and other insecticides in the 1960s led to a severe decline in the spotted bat population but current observations had shown that it is more common than formerly believed. Abundance, population trend, and threats are widely unknown.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Arroyo-Cabrales, J. & Ticul Alvarez Castaneda, S. (2008). "Euderma maculatum". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2009.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  2. ↑ Classify a Chiropteran

Further reading

External links