The parti-coloured bat or rearmouse (''Vespertilio murinus'') 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 ...

that lives in

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

, from Western and Southern Europe, eastwards over the Caucasus and Iran into Mongolia, north-east China, Korea, Afghanistan and northern Pakistan.

Description

Their twittering call, similar to a bird's call, can be heard particularly in the autumn during the mating season. The parti-coloured bat has a body size of with a wingspan of , and a weight of . Its name is derived from its fur, which has two colours. Its back (dorsal side) is red to dark-brown, with silver-white-frosted hair. The ventral side is white or grey. The ears, wings and face are black or dark brown. The wings are narrow. The ears are short, broad and roundish. It is known to live up to 12 years.

Behaviour

These bats hunt for their

prey Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not ki ...

, for example

mosquito Mosquitoes, the Culicidae, are a Family (biology), family of small Diptera, flies consisting of 3,600 species. The word ''mosquito'' (formed by ''Musca (fly), mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish and Portuguese for ''little fly''. Mos ...

es, caddis flies and

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

s, with a wide range of ultrasonic sounds, but especially around 25–27 kHz. They hunt after twilight at heights of around , for example in open landscape over streams and lakes and above forests or at street lights. In cold weather, the bat may remain in its resting place. There is not much known about the behaviour of parti-coloured bats, as they are quite rare. Female bats live in small groups, of about 50 animals, sometimes up to several hundred adult females. In Western Europe, male groups consist of about 250 animals and are found only during the spring and early summer. These bats migrate, and flights of up to were found. The furthest migration was determined at . Between October and March, the bats hibernate. They hibernate alone, and can bear temperatures down to .

Reproduction and birth

Females form maternity roosts during May and July and generally give birth to twins. After the pups are weaned, which takes less than six weeks, females leave the maternity roost. Birth of the young is in western Europe around beginning of June.

Distribution

The parti-coloured bat occurs in Central and Western

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and in

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. Its natural habitat is mountains,

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without closed forests except near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the tropical and subtropica ...

s and forested areas, but in Western Europe, they can mainly be found in cities. The species is protected, as it is threatened by

insecticide Insecticides are pesticides used to kill insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against insect eggs and larvae, respectively. The major use of insecticides is in agriculture, but they are also used in home and garden settings, i ...

s and changes in their habitat.

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q232644 Vespertilio Bats of Asia Bats of Europe Mammals of Russia Mammals of Central Asia Mammals of Turkey Mammals of Azerbaijan Bat, Parti-coloured Mammals of Afghanistan Mammals of Pakistan Mammals described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus