Ellen Rathbone

The little brown (Myotis lucifugus) and big brown (Eptesicus fuscus) bats are furry cave-dwellers who have been most heavily impacted by the fungus-based disease now known as white-nose syndrome (WNS).

Every hibernaculum in New York was diagnosed with the disease, and in some of the caves, these bats experienced over 90% mortality. It’s a sobering fact. [Read more…] about Bat Week: Little and Big Brown Bats

Two bats that are often never mentioned (mostly because so few people have heard of them) are Keen’s myotis (Myotis keenii) and the northern long-eared myotis (Myotis septentrionalis). Both species have been found in New York State, but neither in great numbers.

The genus name, Myotis, is roughly translated as “mouse-eared bat”, and these days many of the Myotis bats are no longer referred to as “bats” per se, as in “little brown bat” and Keen’s bat.” Instead, the genus name is substituted as part of the common name. Thus, we now have “little brown myotis” (little brown mouse-eared bat) and Keen’s myotis (Keen’s mouse-eared bat). [Read more…] about Bat Week: Keen’s and Long-Eared Myotis

To the average person, an Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) is not a terribly impressive animal. It is a smallish, brownish bat, often mistaken for a little brown bat (another less-than-dazzling member of the clan).

A scientist in the know, however, can detect small differences to tell these species apart, such as the length of the toe hairs (I kid you not), the length of the ears, the color of the snout, the amount of shine to the fur, or the presence of a keel on the calcar (a spur of cartilage that gives some rigidity to the trailing edge of the wing membrane near the bat’s foot). [Read more…] about Bat Week: The Indiana Myotis