The mouse-eared bats or myotises are a diverse and widespread
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
(''Myotis'') of
bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most ...
s within the family
Vespertilionidae
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 ...
. The noun "''myotis''" itself is a
New Latin
New Latin (also called Neo-Latin or Modern Latin) is the revival of Literary Latin used in original, scholarly, and scientific works since about 1500. Modern scholarly and technical nomenclature, such as in zoological and botanical taxonomy ...
construction, from the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
"''muós'' (meaning "mouse") and "''oûs''" (meaning ear), literally translating to "mouse-eared".
Relationships
''Myotis'' has historically been included in the subfamily
Vespertilioninae
The Vespertilioninae are a subfamily of vesper bats from the family Vespertilionidae.
Classification
Subfamily Vespertilioninae
*Tribe Antrozoini
**Genus '' Antrozous''
*** Pallid bat, ''Antrozous pallidus''
**Genus '' Bauerus''
*** Van Geld ...
, but was classified in its own subfamily,
Myotinae
Myotinae is a subfamily of vesper bats. It contains three genera: ''Eudiscopus'', '' Myotis'', and ''Submyotodon''. Before the description of ''Submyotodon'' and analysis of its phylogenetics, as well as a phylogenetic analysis of ''Eudiscopus'', ...
, by
Nancy Simmons in 1998. In her 2005 classification in ''
Mammal Species of the World
''Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference'' is a standard reference work in mammalogy giving descriptions and bibliographic data for the known species of mammals. It is now in its third edition, published in late 2005, ...
'', Simmons listed the genera ''
Cistugo
''Cistugo'' is a genus of bats from southern Africa. The two species have historically been included in the genus ''Myotis'' (family Vespertilionidae), but molecular studies show that the genus is distinct from all other Vespertilionidae, and in ...
'' and ''
Lasionycteris
The silver-haired bat (''Lasionycteris noctivagans'') is a solitary migratory species of vesper bat in the family Vespertilionidae and the only member of the genus ''Lasionycteris''.
Etymology
The species name translates as night-wandering, ref ...
'' in the Myotinae in addition to ''Myotis'' itself.
[Simmons, 2005, p. 499] However, molecular data indicate that ''Cistugo'' is distantly related to all other Vespertilionidae, so it was reclassified into its own family, the Cistugidae, and that ''Lasionycteris'' belongs in the Vespertilioninae.
[Roehrs et al., 2010] The genus ''
Submyotodon'' has since been added to the subfamily, making it and ''Myotis'' its only members.
Appearance and behavior
Their ears are normally longer than they are wide, with a long and lance-shaped
tragus, hence their English and zoological names. The species within this genus vary in size from very large to very small for
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 ...
s, with a single pair of mammary glands.
Mouse-eared bats are generally
insectivores. ''
M. vivesi'', and several members of the trawling bat ecomorph ''Leuconoe'', have relatively large feet with long toes, and take small fish from the water surface (they also take insects).
Longevity
''Myotis'' species are remarkably long-lived for their size; in 2018, researchers revealed that a longitudinal study appears to indicate that ''Myotis''
telomere
A telomere (; ) is a region of repetitive nucleotide sequences associated with specialized proteins at the ends of linear chromosomes. Although there are different architectures, telomeres, in a broad sense, are a widespread genetic feature mos ...
s do not shrink with age, and that telomerase does not appear to be present in the ''Myotis'' metabolism. 13 species of ''Myotis'' bats live longer than 20 years and 4 species live longer than 30 years.
[Growing old, yet staying young: The role of telomeres in bats’ exceptional longevity]
[These Bats Don't Seem to Die of Old Age—Can They Help Extend the Human Lifespan?]
by Kate Lunau, at ''Vice (magazine), Vice''; published February 7, 2018; retrieved June 12, 2018 The longest-living species of ''Myotis'', and longest-living bat in general, is thought to be the Siberian bat (''M. sibiricus''); one individual discovered in 2005 was found to be over 41 years old at the time.
Species
Traditionally, ''Myotis'' was divided into three large subgenera—''Leuconoe'', ''Myotis'', and ''Selysius''. However, molecular data indicate that these subgenera are not natural groups, but instead unnatural assemblages of convergent evolution, convergently similar species.
[Simmons, 2005, p. 500] Instead, ''Myotis'' species largely fall in two main clades, one containing Old World and the other New World species.
[ The Integrated Taxonomic Information System, ITIS presently divides it into three subgenera: ''Chrysopteron'' (containing most reddish-colored Old World species), ''Myotis'' (containing almost all other Old World species), and ''Pizonyx'' (containing all New World species and the Eurasian ''Myotis brandtii'' and ''Siberian bat, Myotis sibiricus'', which are more closely related to New World species than to other Old World species). The Asian species ''Myotis latirostris'' falls outside the clade formed by these main groups, and has since been reclassified into a separate genus, '' Submyotodon'', alongside several others.
''Myotis'' is a highly species-rich genus, and the classification of many species remains unsettled. The taxonomy below is based on that of the Integrated Taxonomic Information System, ITIS in 2021. Some differences in taxonomy from the 2005 third edition of '']Mammal Species of the World
''Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference'' is a standard reference work in mammalogy giving descriptions and bibliographic data for the known species of mammals. It is now in its third edition, published in late 2005, ...
''[Simmons, 2005, pp. 500–518] are indicated in footnotes.
*Subgenus ''Chrysopteron'':
** ''Myotis anjouanensis'' (Dorst, 1960) - Anjouan myotis
** ''Myotis bartelsii'' (Jentink, 1910) - Bartels's myotis
** ''Myotis bocagii'' (Peters, 1870) - rufous mouse-eared bat
** ''Myotis dieteri'' (Happold, 2005) - Kock's mouse-eared bat
** ''Myotis emarginatus'' (E. Geoffroy, 1806) - Geoffroy's bat
** ''Myotis formosus'' (Hodgson, 1835) - Hodgson's bat, copper-winged bat
** ''Myotis goudotii'' (A. Smith, 1834) - Malagasy mouse-eared bat
** ''Myotis hermani'' Thomas, 1923 - Herman's myotis
** ''Myotis morrisi'' Hill, 1971 - Morris's bat
** ''Myotis nimbaensis'' (Simmons et al., 2021) - Nimba mountain bat
** ''Myotis rufoniger'' (Tomes, 1858) - reddish-black myotis
** ''Myotis rufopictus'' (Waterhouse, 1845) - orange-fingered myotis
** ''Myotis scotti'' Thomas, 1927 - Scott's mouse-eared bat
** ''Myotis tricolor'' (Temminck, 1832) - Cape hairy bat, little brown bat, Temminck's mouse-eared bat, Cape myotis, tricoloured mouse-eared bat, Cape hairy myotis, Temminck's hairy bat, three-coloured bat
** ''Myotis weberi'' (Jentink, 1890) - Weber's myotis
** ''Myotis welwitschii'' (Gray, 1866) - Welwitsch's bat, Welwitsch's mouse-eared bat, Welwitsch's myotis
*Subgenus ''Myotis'':
** ''Myotis adversus'' (Horsfield, 1824) - large-footed bat, large-footed mouse-eared bat, large-footed myotis
** ''Myotis aelleni'' (Baud, 1979) - southern myotis (disputed species)
** ''Myotis alcathoe'' (von Helversen and Heller, 2001) - Alcathoe bat
** ''Myotis altarium'' (Thomas, 1911) - Szechwan myotis
** ''Myotis alticraniatus'' Osgood, 1932 - Indochinese whiskered myotis
** ''Myotis ancricola'' Kruskop, Borisenko, Dudorova, & Artyushin, 2018 - valley myotis
** ''Myotis annamiticus'' (Kruskop and Tsytsulina, 2001) - Annamit myotis
** ''Myotis annatessae'' Kruskop & Borisenko, 2013 - Anna Tess's myotis
** ''Myotis annectans'' (Dobson, 1871) - hairy-faced bat
** ''Myotis ater'' (Peters, 1866) - Peters's myotis, small black myotis
** ''Myotis badius'' Tiunov, Kruskop, & Feng Jiang, 2011 - chestnut myotis
** ''Myotis bechsteinii'' (Kuhl, 1817) - Bechstein's bat
** ''Myotis blythii'' (Tomes, 1857) - lesser mouse-eared bat
** ''Myotis bombinus'' (Thomas, 1906) - Far Eastern myotis, bombinus bat
** ''Myotis borneoensis'' Hill & Francis, 1984 - Bornean whiskered myotis
** ''Myotis browni'' E. H. Taylor, 1934 - Brown's whiskered myotis
** ''Myotis bucharensis'' (Kuzyakin, 1950) - Bocharic myotis, Bokhara whiskered bat
** ''Myotis capaccinii'' (Bonaparte, 1837) - long-fingered bat
** ''Myotis chinensis'' (Tomes, 1857) - large myotis
** ''Myotis crypticus'' Ruedi, Ibáñez, Salicini, Juste & Puechmaille, 2019 - cryptic myotis
** ''Myotis csorbai'' (Topál, 1997) - Csorba's mouse-eared bat
** ''Myotis dasycneme'' (Boie, 1825) - pond bat
** ''Myotis daubentonii'' (Kuhl, 1817) - Daubenton's bat
** ''Myotis davidii'' (Peters, 1869) - David's myotis
** ''Myotis escalerai'' Cabrera, 1904 - Escalera's bat
** ''Myotis federatus'' Thomas, 1916 - Malaysian whiskered myotis
** ''Myotis fimbriatus'' (Peters, 1871) - fringed long-footed myotis
** ''Myotis frater'' G.M. Allen, 1923 - fraternal myotis
** ''Myotis gomantongensis'' Francis and Hill, 1998 - Gomantong myotis
** ''Myotis hajastanicus'' Argyropulo, 1939 - Armenian whiskered bat, Hajastan myotis, Armenian myotis (disputed species)
** ''Myotis hasseltii'' (Temminck, 1840) - lesser large-footed bat
** ''Myotis horsfieldii'' (Temminck, 1840) - Horsfield's bat
** ''Myotis hoveli'' Harrison, 1964 - Hovel's myotis
** ''Myotis hyrcanicus'' Benda ''et al.'', 2012 - Hyrcanian myotis
** ''Myotis ikonnikovi'' Ognev, 1912 - Ikonnikov's bat
** ''Myotis indochinensis'' Son ''et al.'', 2013 - Indochinese myotis
** ''Myotis insularum'' (Dobson, 1878) - insular myotis
** ''Myotis laniger'' Peters, 1871 - Chinese water myotis
** ''Myotis longicaudatus'' Ognev, 1927 - long-tailed myotis
** ''Myotis longipes'' (Dobson, 1873) - Kashmir cave bat
** ''Myotis macrodactylus'' (Temminck, 1840) - eastern long-fingered bat, big-footed myotis
** ''Myotis macropus'' (Gould, 1854) - southern myotis, large-footed myotis
** ''Myotis macrotarsus'' (Waterhouse, 1845) - pallid large-footed myotis, Philippine large-footed myotis
** ''Myotis melanorhinus'' Merriam, 1890 - dark-nosed small-footed myotis (disputed species)
** ''Myotis moluccarum'' (Thomas, 1915) - Maluku myotis, Arafura large-footed bat
** ''Myotis montivagus'' (Dobson, 1874) - Burmese whiskered bat
** ''Myotis muricola'' (Gray, 1846) - wall-roosting mouse-eared bat, Nepalese whiskered myotis
** ''Myotis myotis'' (Borkhausen, 1797) - greater mouse-eared bat
** ''Myotis mystacinus'' (Kuhl, 1817) - whiskered bat
** ''Myotis nattereri'' (Kuhl, 1817) - Natterer's bat
** ''Myotis nipalensis'' Dobson, 1871 - Nepal myotis
** ''Myotis pequinius'' Thomas, 1908 - Beijing mouse-eared bat, Peking myotis
** ''Myotis petax'' Hollister, 1912 - eastern water bat, Sakhalin bat
** ''Myotis peytoni'' Wroughton & Ryley, 1913 - Peyton's myotis
** ''Myotis phanluongi'' Borisenko, Kruskop and Ivanova, 2008 - Phan Luong's myotis
** ''Myotis pilosus'' Peters, 1869 - Rickett's big-footed bat
** ''Myotis pruinosus'' Yoshiyuki, 1971 - frosted myotis
** ''Myotis punicus'' Felten, Spitzenberger and Storch, 1977 - Felten's myotis
** ''Myotis ridleyi'' Thomas, 1898 - Ridley's bat
** ''Myotis rosseti'' (Oey, 1951) - thick-thumbed myotis
** ''Myotis schaubi'' Kormos, 1934 - Schaub's myotis
** ''Myotis secundus'' Ruedi, Csorba, Lin, & Chou , 2015 - long-toed myotis
** ''Myotis sicarius'' Thomas, 1915 - Mandelli's mouse-eared bat
** ''Myotis siligorensis'' (Horsfield, 1855) - Himalayan whiskered bat
** ''Myotis soror'' Ruedi, Csorba, Lin, & Chou, 2015 - reddish myotis
** ''Myotis sowerbyi'' Howell, 1926 - Sowerby's whiskered myotis
** ''Myotis stalkeri'' Thomas, 1910 - Kei myotis
** ''Myotis tschuliensis'' Kuzyakin, 1935 - Tschuli myotis
** ''Myotis yanbarensis'' Maeda and Matsumara, 1998 - Yanbaru whiskered bat
** ''Myotis zenatius'' Ibáñez, Juste, Salicini, Puechmaille & Ruedi, 2019 - Zenati myotis
*Subgenus ''Pizonyx'':
** ''Myotis albescens'' (E. Geoffroy, 1806) - silver-tipped myotis
** ''Myotis armiensis'' Carrión-Bonilla & Cook, 2020 - Armién's myotis
** ''Myotis atacamensis'' (Lataste, 1892) - Atacama myotis
** ''Myotis attenboroughi'' Moratelli et al., 2017 - Sir David Attenborough's myotis
** ''Myotis auriculus'' (Baker and Stains, 1955) - southwestern myotis
** ''Myotis austroriparius'' (Rhoads, 1897) - southeastern myotis
** ''Myotis bakeri'' Moratelli, Novaes, Bonilla, & D. E. Wilson, 2019 - Baker's myotis
** ''Myotis brandtii'' (Eversmann, 1845) - Brandt's bat
** ''Myotis californicus'' (Audubon and Bachman, 1842) - California myotis
** ''Myotis caucensis'' Allen, 1914 - Colombian black myotis
** ''Myotis chiloensis'' (Waterhouse, 1840) - Chilean myotis
** ''Myotis ciliolabrum'' (Merriam, 1886) - western small-footed bat, western small-footed myotis
** ''Myotis clydejonesi'' Moratelli, D. E. Wilson, A. L. Gardner, Fisher, & Gutierrez, 2016 - Clyde Jones's myotis
** ''Myotis cobanensis'' (Goodwin, 1955) - Guatemalan myotis
** ''Myotis diminutus'' Moratelli & Wilson, 2011 - diminutive myotis
** ''Myotis dinellii'' Thomas, 1902 - Dinelli's myotis
** ''Myotis dominicensis'' Miller, 1902 - Dominican myotis
** ''Myotis elegans'' Hall, 1962 - elegant myotis
** ''Myotis evotis'' (H. Allen, 1864) - long-eared myotis
** ''Myotis findleyi'' Bogan, 1978 - Findley's myotis
** ''Myotis fortidens'' Miller and Allen, 1928 - cinnamon myotis
** ''Myotis grisescens'' A.H. Howell, 1909 - gray bat
** ''Myotis handleyi'' Moratelli, A. L. Gardner, J. A. Oliveira, & D. E. Wilson, 2013 - Handley's myotis
** ''Myotis izecksohni'' Moratelli, Peracchi, Dias & de Oliveira, 2011 - Izecksohn's myotis
See also
* Bat adenovirus TJM
Notes
References
Literature cited
* Borisenko, A.V., Kruskop, S.V. and Ivanova, N.V. 2008. A new mouse-eared bat (Mammalia: Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) from Vietnam. Russian Journal of Theriology 7(2):57–69.
* Han, N., Zhang, J., Reardon, T., Lin, L., Zhang, J. and Zhang, S. 2010
Revalidation of ''Myotis taiwanensis'' Ärnbäck-Christie-Linde 1908 and its molecular relationship with ''M. adversus'' (Horsfield 1824) (Vespertilionidae, Chiroptera)
(subscription required). Acta Chiropterologica 12(2):449–456.*Happold, M. 2005. A new species of ''Myotis'' (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) from central Africa. Acta Chiropterologica 7(1):9–21.
* Ibáñez, C., García-Mudarra, J.L., Ruedi, M., Stadelmann, B. and Juste, J. 2006. The Iberian contribution to cryptic diversity in European bats. Acta Chiropterologica 8(2):277–297.
* Jiang, T., Sun, K., Chou, C., Zhang, Z. and Feng, J. 2010. First record of ''Myotis flavus'' (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) from mainland China and a reassessment of its taxonomic status. Zootaxa 2414:41–51.
* Lack, J.B., Roehrs, Z.P., Stanley, C.E., Ruedi, M. and Van Den Bussche, R.A. 2010
Molecular phylogenetics of ''Myotis'' indicate familial-level divergence for the genus ''Cistugo'' (Chiroptera)
(subscription required). Journal of Mammalogy 91(4):976–992.
* Matveev, V.A., Kruskop, S.V. and Kramerov, D.A. 2005. Revalidation of ''Myotis petax'' Hollister, 1912 and its new status in connection with ''M. daubentonii'' (Kuhl, 1817) (Vespertilionidae, Chiroptera). Acta Chiropterologica 7(1):23–37.
* Mayer, F., Dietz, C. and Kiefer, A. 2007
Molecular species identification boosts bat diversity
Frontiers in Zoology 4(1):239–255.
*
* Roehrs, Z.P., Lack, J.B. and Van Den Bussche, R.A. 2010
Tribal phylogenetic relationships within Vespertilioninae (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) based on mitochondrial and nuclear sequence data
(subscription required). Journal of Mammalogy 91(5):1073–1092.
* Simmons, N.B. 2005. Order Chiroptera. Pp. 312–529 in Wilson, D.E. and Reeder, D.M. (eds.)
Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference
3rd ed. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols., 2142 pp.
* Stadelmann, B., Lin, L.-K., Kunz, T.H. and Ruedi, M. 2007
Molecular phylogeny of New World ''Myotis'' (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae) inferred from mitochondrial and nuclear DNA genes
(subscription required). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 43(1):32–48.
* Tsytsulina, K. 2004. On the taxonomical status of ''Myotis abei'' Yoshikura, 1944 (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae). Zoological Science 21:963–966.
*Simmons, Nancy B.; Flanders, J.; Bakwo Fils, E. M.; Parker, Guy; Suter, Jamison D.; Bamba, Seinan; Keita, Mamady Kobele; Morales, Ariadna E.; Frick, Winifred F. 2021
A new dichromatic species of Myotis (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) from the Nimba Mountains, Guinea (American Museum novitates, no. 3963)
American Museum Novitates. ISSN 0003-0082.
External links
''Myotis''
at Animal Diversity Web
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mouse-Eared Bats
Mouse-eared bats
Bat genera
