Natterer's bat

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Natterer's bat

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Chiroptera
Family: Vespertilionidae
Genus: Myotis
Species:
M. nattereri
Binomial name
Myotis nattereri
(Kuhl, 1817)

Natterer's bat (Myotis nattereri) is a European vespertilionid bat[2] with pale wings. It has brown fur tending to greyish-white on its underside. It is found across most of the continent of Europe, parts of the Near East and North Africa. It feeds on insects and other invertebrates which it catches on the wing or pursues on the ground.

In summer it roosts in

coniferous trees, buildings or bat boxes close to its feeding habitats. In winter it hibernates in caves, tunnels, mines or cellars, usually hiding in crevices. This bat was first described in 1817 by Heinrich Kuhl, who named it in honour of the Austrian naturalist Johann Natterer.[3][4][5]

Description

Natterer's bat is a medium-sized species and grows to a head and body length of 1.75 to 2 inches (44 to 51 mm) with a forearm (elbow to wrist) length of 1.75 inches (44 mm). It weighs between 5 and 9.5 grams (0.18 and 0.34 oz). The short, dense fur on the

interfemoral membrane between the hind limbs is wrinkled and fringed with stiff, curved hairs and the calcar, a spur of cartilage that supports the membrane, is shaped like a "S".[7]

Distribution and habitat

The Natterer's bat species complex has a western

Asia Minor, the Levant, the Caucasus region, the Kopet Dag Mountains in Turkmenistan, Iran and northern Kazakhstan. Its southern limit is Morocco and Algeria, southwards as far as the Atlas Mountains. Records from North Africa are few in number and the population there is likely to be small. Its historic range included Norway, in which it is now a possibly extirpated species.[citation needed
]

It is found from sea level up to an altitude of about 2,000 metres (6,600 ft).[1] It is found in forests, parkland, and in open countryside with scattered woodland. It roosts in holes in trees, buildings and nestboxes. In winter it hibernates in caves, mineshafts, tunnels and cellars, hiding itself away in cracks and crevices usually near the cave entrance.[7] It is largely a resident species and the summer roosts and winter hibernation sites are usually within 120 kilometres (75 mi) of each other.[1]

Cyprus

Behaviour

Natterer's bat is nocturnal and

olfaction or sounds emitted by its prey for this purpose. The bat feeds on the wing and it mostly catches insects in flight but it is also able to feed on prey items such as spiders and caterpillars dangling close to foliage on silken threads.[14]

During a study of the bat's diet, examination of droppings showed that it can also gather prey items from the ground. The diet was found mostly to consist of large

interfemoral membrane to catch prey and the fringing hairs may have a sensory function.[16] It has been shown that it can land on the ground to pick up and pursue invertebrates that are active at night, and continues to emit search signals in order to locate them precisely.[16]

Breeding takes place in the spring and many Natterer's bats may congregate in a nursery roost. After fertilisation, a female normally gives birth to a single offspring after a gestation period of fifty to sixty days, but twins sometimes occur. Weaning takes place six or seven weeks later and the juvenile becomes sexually mature the following year.[7]

Status

The

Least Concern" because it has a very wide distribution and is abundant in many parts of its extent. The population trend seems to be steady and no significant threats have been identified. The IUCN does note however that in some parts of its range woodlands are under threat and land management practices are changing. Roosting sites in trees and buildings may be destroyed and in Africa, cave roosting habitats are being damaged. The bat is used in traditional medicine practices in North Africa.[1]

Natterer's bats are protected under the European

Environmental Stewardship scheme.[17]

See also

  • Bokeloh Bat lyssavirus

References

  1. ^
    doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2023-1.RLTS.T215492021A211005466.en
    . Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  2. OCLC 62265494
    .
  3. ^ "Natterer’s Bat" Archived 2015-01-09 at the Wayback Machine, Natural History Society of Northumbria, retrieved 2014.04.14.
  4. ^ "Natterer", The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals, By Bo Beolens, Michael Watkins, Michael Grayson, 2009, Johns Hopkins University Press
  5. ISBN 1848760477
    .
  6. ^ Myotis nattereri - Science for Nature Foundation
  7. ^
    ISBN 978-0-00-212080-7
    .
  8. Wikidata Q61883614
    .
  9. Wikidata Q59645142
    .
  10. Wikidata Q61789557
    .
  11. Wikidata Q61808257
    .
  12. ^ Parsons, S. and Jones, G. (2000) 'Acoustic identification of twelve species of echolocating bat by discriminant function analysis and artificial neural networks.' J Exp Biol., 203: 2641-2656.
  13. ^ Obrist, M.K., Boesch, R. and Flückiger, P.F. (2004) 'Variability in echolocation call design of 26 Swiss bat species: Consequences, limits and options for automated field identification with a synergic pattern recognition approach.' Mammalia., 68 (4): 307-32.
  14. S2CID 32561826
    .
  15. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1991.tb04766.x
    .
  16. ^
    S2CID 8792206
    .
  17. ^ "Environmental Stewardship". Natural England. Retrieved 2013-10-27.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Myotis nattereri.
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