Townsend's big-eared bat (''Corynorhinus townsendii'') is a species of

vesper bat Vespertilionidae is a family of microbats, of the order Chiroptera, flying, insect-eating mammals variously described as the common, vesper, or simple nosed bats. The vespertilionid family is the most diverse and widely distributed of bat famili ...

Description

Townsend's big-eared bat is a medium-sized bat (7-12 g)Townsend's Big-eared Bat (''Plecotus townsendii'')
Nsrl.ttu.edu. Retrieved on 2010-11-05. with extremely long, flexible ears, and small yet noticeable lumps on each side of the snout. Its total length is around 10 cm (4 in.), its tail being around 5 cm (2 in) and its wingspan is about 28 cm (11 in). The dental formula of ''Corynorhinus townsendii'' is

Range

''C. townsendii'' can be found in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, and

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Ecology

The mating season for the Townsend's big-eared bat takes place in late fall. As with many other bat species, the female stores sperm in her reproductive tract after mating, and fertilization occurs in the spring. Gestation lasts from 50 to 60 days. As with other bat species, pups are born without the ability to fly. Only one pup is birthed per female. One study found the average lifespan of a Townsend's big-eared bat to be 16 years. This bat requires large cavities for roosting; these may include abandoned buildings and mines, caves, and basal cavities of trees. During summer, these bats inhabit rocky crevices, caves, and derelict buildings. In winter, they hibernate in a variety of dwellings, including rocky crevices, caves, tunnels, mineshafts, spaces under loose tree bark, hollow trees, and buildings. During the summer, males and females occupy separate roosting sites; males are typically solitary, while females form maternity colonies, where they raise their pups. A maternity colony may range in size from 12 bats to 200, although in the eastern United States, colonies of 1,000 or more have been formed. During the winter, these bats

hibernate Hibernation is a state of minimal activity and metabolic depression undergone by some animal species. Hibernation is a seasonal heterothermy characterized by low body-temperature, slow breathing and heart-rate, and low metabolic rate. It most ...

, often when temperatures are around 32 to 53 °F (around 0 °C to 11.5 °C.) Townsend's roost singly during hibernation, forming small clusters only rarely. Males often hibernate in warmer places than females and are more easily aroused and active in winter than females. The bats are often interrupted from their sleep because they tend to wake up frequently and move around in the cave or move from one cave entirely to another. Before hibernation, ''C. townsendii'' individuals increase their body mass to compensate for the food they do not eat during the winter. This species has 2-3 feeding periods between dark and dawn, with periods of rest in between. They rest in areas different from where they roost during the day. During tests on straight-line courses, ''C. townsendii'' flew at speeds ranging from 2.9 to 5.5 m/s (6.4 to 12.3 mph).

Diet and echolocation

This species is a moth specialist, and may feed almost exclusively on Lepidoptera. However, its diet may include small

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

flies Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced m ...

lacewings The insect order Neuroptera, or net-winged insects, includes the lacewings, mantidflies, antlions, and their relatives. The order consists of some 6,000 species. Neuroptera can be grouped together with the Megaloptera and Raphidioptera in the ...

dung beetle Dung beetles are beetles that feed on feces. Some species of dung beetles can bury dung 250 times their own mass in one night. Many dung beetles, known as ''rollers'', roll dung into round balls, which are used as a food source or breeding cha ...

sawflies Sawflies are the insects of the suborder Symphyta within the order Hymenoptera, alongside ants, bees, and wasps. The common name comes from the saw-like appearance of the ovipositor, which the females use to cut into the plants where they lay ...

, and other small

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...

s. As a whisper bat, it echolocates at much lower intensities than other bats, and may be difficult to record using a

bat detector A bat detector is a device used to detect the presence of bats by converting their echolocation ultrasound signals, as they are emitted by the bats, to audible frequencies, usually about 120 Hz to 15 kHz. There are other types o ...

. (This may be partly because it specializes on moths --- with some moths having the ability to hear bats, possibly producing their own noises to ' jam' a bat's echolocation in an effort to thwart

predation Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...

Functional morphology

''C. townsendii'', as well as its close relative ''C. rafinesquii'', both have low wing loading, which means a large wing area to mass ratio. This morphology allows for a large amount of lift, high maneuverability, low-speed flight, and hovering during flight. Their large

pinnae The auricle or auricula is the visible part of the ear that is outside the head. It is also called the pinna (Latin for "wing" or " fin", plural pinnae), a term that is used more in zoology. Structure The diagram shows the shape and location ...

are usually in line with the body during flight; this indicates one of the roles of the pinnae is to impart lift during flight. The ears are also used to transmit sound into the bat's external auditory meatus, effectively distinguishing between ambient noise, and the sounds of predators or prey.

Subspecies

Five subspecies are described: * ''C. t. australis'' * ''C. t. townsendii'' – Townsend's big-eared bat * ''C. t. ingens'' –

Ozark big-eared bat The Ozark big-eared bat is an endangered species found only in a small number of caves in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri, the southern central United States. Also known as the western big-eared bat, the long-eared bat, and the lump-nosed bat, ...

(federally endangered) * ''C. t. pallescens'' – western big-eared bat * ''C. t. virginianus'' –

Virginia big-eared bat The Virginia big-eared bat (''Corynorhinus townsendii virginianus'') is one of two endangered subspecies of the Townsend's big-eared bat. It is found in Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky. In 1979, the US Fish and Wildlife Ser ...

(federally endangered),Virginia big-eared bat
Biology.eku.edu. Retrieved on 2010-11-05. the Virginia state bat

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1190041 Mammals described in 1837 Corynorhinus Bats of Canada Bats of Mexico Bats of the United States Bat, Townsend's big-eared bat Bat, Townsend's big-eared bat Fauna of the San Francisco Bay Area Taxonomy articles created by Polbot