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

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of long-eared bat. It was originally described from

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

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 in 1965. It was later described in 2002, from

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

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

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

, being found in

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

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 is the system of 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 ...

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 Priority is a principle in Taxonomy (biology), biological taxonomy by which a valid scientific name is established based on the oldest available name. It is a decisive rule in Botanical nomenclature, botanical and zoological nomenclature to recogn ...

, 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 binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

"''macrobullaris''" is from

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

"'' makrós''" meaning "long" and

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

"'' 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 (tympanic b ...

Distribution

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

Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...

; in

the Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

it has been recorded from France to Slovenia, in the

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

and through the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with 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 throug ...

to Greece. It is also found on

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

and

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

. In Asia is occurs in

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

through the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

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 In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

. 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