The elegant myotis (''Myotis elegans'') is a species of
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 ...
found in
Belize
Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...
,
Costa Rica
Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...
,
El Salvador
El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...
,
Guatemala
Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...
,
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...
,
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
, and
Nicaragua
Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...
.
Description
The elegant myotis is a small bat, with a body weight of about 4 g. Its fur is brown on the dorsal side while the ventral side is lighter and golden. Its ears are pale brown, and its flight membranes are slightly darker than its fur. The ears feature a slender and deeply notched
tragus. The following body measurements are in millimeters (mm). Total body length: 76.0, length of tail: 35.0, length of hind foot: 7.0, length of ear: 12.0, tragus: 6, forearm: 34.2, and, the greatest length of skull: 13.
When compared to the
California Myotis
The California myotis (''Myotis californicus'') is a species of vesper bat. It is found in British Columbia in Canada, Guatemala, Mexico, and in the western United States, including California.
Description
Physical characteristics
The Califor ...
(''M. californicus'') and the
Western small-footed bat
The western small-footed bat (''Myotis ciliolabrum''), also known as the western small-footed myotis, is a species of vesper bat native to North America.
Description
Western small-footed bats are relatively small bats, having a total length of , ...
(''M. ciliolabrum''), ''M. elegans'' has a shorter tail, a more pronounced golden color on its underparts, a deeper notch in their tragus, and a shorter skull. It is further differentiated from ''M. ciliolabrum'' by its paler ears, lips, and flight membranes, shorter ears, and a more slender tragus.
Like most vesper bats, ''M. elegans'' produces short duration frequency modulated (FM)
echolocation calls above 50 kHz in frequency.
Biology and behavior
Little is known about the life history and behavior of the elegant bat. They are known to inhabit dry deciduous forests in El Salvador.
Based on fecal analysis, ''M. elegans'' is known to prey on insects of the
Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...
,
Coleoptera
Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...
and
Diptera
Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advance ...
orders.
Due to low sample size in existing studies, it is likely not a complete list of prey items for this species.
Sources
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1829479
Mouse-eared bats
Bats of Central America
Bats of Mexico
Fauna of Southern Mexico
Least concern biota of North America
Mammals described in 1962
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot