The elegant myotis (''Myotis elegans'') 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 familie ...

found in

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

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

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

Description

The elegant myotis is a small bat, with a body weight of about 4 g. Its fur is brown on the dorsal side while the ventral side is lighter and golden. Its ears are pale brown, and its flight membranes are slightly darker than its fur. The ears feature a slender and deeply notched tragus. The following body measurements are in millimeters (mm). Total body length: 76.0, length of tail: 35.0, length of hind foot: 7.0, length of ear: 12.0, tragus: 6, forearm: 34.2, and, the greatest length of skull: 13. When compared to the California Myotis (''M. californicus'') and the

Western small-footed bat The western small-footed bat (''Myotis ciliolabrum''), also known as the western small-footed myotis, is a species of vesper bat native to North America. Description Western small-footed bats are relatively small bats, having a total length of , ...

(''M. ciliolabrum''), ''M. elegans'' has a shorter tail, a more pronounced golden color on its underparts, a deeper notch in their tragus, and a shorter skull. It is further differentiated from ''M. ciliolabrum'' by its paler ears, lips, and flight membranes, shorter ears, and a more slender tragus. Like most vesper bats, ''M. elegans'' produces short duration frequency modulated (FM) echolocation calls above 50 kHz in frequency.

Biology and behavior

Little is known about the life history and behavior of the elegant bat. They are known to inhabit dry deciduous forests in El Salvador. Based on fecal analysis, ''M. elegans'' is known to prey on insects of the

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...

Coleoptera Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

and

Diptera 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 ...

orders. Due to low sample size in existing studies, it is likely not a complete list of prey items for this species.

Sources

Mouse-eared bats Bats of Central America Bats of Mexico Fauna of Southern Mexico Least concern biota of North America Mammals described in 1962 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Vespertilionidae-stub