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

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 to ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

, 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 Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

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 A maternity colony refers to a temporary association of reproductive female bats for giving birth to, nursing, and weaning their pups. The colonies are initiated by pregnant bats. After giving birth, the colony consists of the lactating females an ...

, 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, 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 Lepidoptera ( ) is an order of insects that includes butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 families and 46 superfamilies, 10 percent of the total described speci ...

. 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 ...

s, flies, lacewings,

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 ...

s, sawflies, 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 pa ...

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

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 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, it ...

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