The Alpine long-eared bat or mountain long-eared bat (''Plecotus macrobullaris'') is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

long-eared bat Plecotini is a tribe of bats in the family Vespertilionidae. It contains several genera found throughout the Northern Hemisphere, in Eurasia, North Africa, and North America. Several genera in this tribe are known as big-eared bats or long-eared ...

. It was originally described from Switzerland and

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

as a species intermediate between the

brown long-eared bat The brown long-eared bat or common long-eared bat (''Plecotus auritus'') is a small Eurasian insectivorous bat. It has distinctive ears, long and with a distinctive fold. It is extremely similar to the much rarer grey long-eared bat which was ...

and the

grey long-eared bat The grey long-eared bat (''Plecotus austriacus'') is a fairly large European bat. It has distinctive ears, long and with a distinctive fold. It hunts above woodland, often by day, and mostly for moths. In captivity, it has also been recorded ...

in 1965. It was later described in 2002, from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

and Austria, respectively. Despite its name, this species is not restricted to the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, ...

, being found in

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and ...

and elsewhere. It differs from other European long-eared bats, such as the brown long-eared bat, by its white underparts.

Taxonomy and etymology

It was described as a new subspecies in 1965 by A. Kuzjakin, who considered it a subspecies of the

, ''Plecotus auritus''. Its

trinomen In biology, trinomial nomenclature refers to names for taxa below the rank of species. These names have three parts. The usage is different in zoology and botany. In zoology In zoological nomenclature, a trinomen (), trinominal name, or ternar ...

at the time was ''Plecotus auritus macrobullaris''. Andreas Kiefer and Michael Veith described a new taxon, ''Plecotus alpinus'', in the 2001 volume of the journal ''Myotis'', but the name was made available in 2002 only. In 2002 too, another set of authors led by Friederike Spitzenberger described the same species under the name ''Plecotus microdontus''. DNA analysis showed that both "species" were synonymous, and according to the

Principle of Priority 270px, '' Valid name (zoology)">valid name. Priority is a fundamental principle of modern botanical nomenclature and zoological nomenclature. Essentially, it is the principle of recognising the first valid application of a name to a plant or an ...

, the oldest name should apply to this species. However, in 2003, it was determined that both ''P. alpinus'' and ''P. microdontus'' were synonyms of the previous taxon described Kuzyakin in 1965, which was then raised to species status as ''Plecotus macrobullaris''. Its

species name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bo ...

"''macrobullaris''" is from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

"'' makrós''" meaning "long" and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

"'' bulla''" meaning "knob-shaped," possibly referencing the

auditory bulla The tympanic part of the temporal bone is a curved plate of bone lying below the squamous part of the temporal bone, in front of the mastoid process, and surrounding the external part of the ear canal. It originates as a separate bone (tympani ...

Distribution

The Alpine long-eared bat has been recorded from Andorra, France and Spain in the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...

; in

the Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, ...

it has been recorded from France to Slovenia, in the

Dinaric Alps The Dinaric Alps (), also Dinarides, are a mountain range in Southern and Southcentral Europe, separating the continental Balkan Peninsula from the Adriatic Sea. They stretch from Italy in the northwest through Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and He ...

and through the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

to Greece. It is also found on

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cypru ...

and Corsica. In Asia is occurs in

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The r ...

through the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...

as far south as Iran and Syria. It mostly inhabits steep mountainous terrain, up to a maximum of but is known to reach sea level in some localities. In 2015, it was reported that the species contains two distinct mitochondrial lineages, which diverged from each other over 1 million years ago. However, it remains unclear whether or not the lineages are distinct in other respects, and therefore whether or not they should be considered distinct subspecies. Nonetheless, two subspecies have been tentatively suggested: * ''P. m. macrobullaris'' - populations east of the Alps * ''P. m. alpinus'' - the Alps and Pyrenees

Description

The Alpine long-eared bat is a medium-sized bat, with a forearm length of approximately and a body weight of . It has pale grey fur over the body, fading to near-white on the underparts and with a dark brown face. The ears are long and a pinkish triangular pad projects downwards from the chin. There is no distinction in the size or colouration of the sexes.

Biology and behaviour

Tha bat's diet is mainly based on moths, which are captured in open areas such as grasslands and alpine meadows.Alberdi A, Garin I, Aizpurua O, Aihartza JR (2012)
The foraging ecology of the Mountain long-eared bat ''Plecotus macrobullaris'' revealed with DNA mini-barcodes.
''PLoS ONE'' 7(4): e35692. Its echolocation calls are similar to those of other long-eared bats, consisting of very faint multiharmonic signals, with the first harmonic sweeping down from 46 to 23 kHz and lasting up to 7 milliseconds. The Alpine long-eared bat seems to be flexible in its choice of roosting habitats, being reported to roost primarily in natural rock crevices in the Pyrenees, but to prefer the attics of human dwellings in the Alps. Roosts are sometimes shared with other related species, but this is unusual. While males change their roosting sites on an almost daily basis, females tend to remain in the same site for long periods, gathering together in brooding colonies of 5 to 25 individuals.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q309501 Plecotus Bats of Europe Fauna of Austria Fauna of Switzerland Mammals described in 1965