#eptesicus

[daily-batposting]

Northern Bat, photographed by Dietmar Nill, (source)

[coffeenuts]

[reanimateobjects]

[hiddenstashart]

[spookyfoxdreamer]

[onenicebugperday]

Blyborough bat tick, Argas vespertilionis, Argasidae (softbacked ticks)

This individual was found on a deceased host, Eptesicus serotinus, the serotine bat (photo one is on the bat’s wing).

Photographed by Gilles San Martin

[todaysbat]

round three: A Brown Bat Wins Either Way

Big Brown Bat (Eptesicus fuscus) - This species has a wide range, found throughout North America, Central America, and the northern portion of South America. This species is a significant predator of agricultural pests. A 1995 study found that, per year, a colony of 150 big brown bats in Indiana or Illinois consumes 600,000 cucumber beetles, 194,000 scarab beetles, 158,000 leafhoppers, and 335,000 shield bugs—all of which cause serious agricultural damage.

image description: a big brown bat on a rock image source: John MacGregor (Land Between the Lakes KY/TN), via wikipedia

Little Brown Bat (Myotis lucifugus) - Despite their name, they are not related to the Big Brown Bat. This species lives throughout much of North America, though historically the largest colonies were found in the more mountainous regions of the eastern United States. This species has been hit hard by White Nose Syndrome, with dire predictions in 2010 suggesting that the species would almost certainly be locally extinct in the Northeastern United States by 2026. The species currently seems to be hanging on with the persistence of small localized populations, though, and as recently as 2023, there seems to be signs of hope that if given enough time and continued protection on the Endangered species list, this species may recover.

image description: a little brown bat being held up for a picture by a researcher wearing white gloves image source: SMBishop, via wikipedia

[have-you-seen-this-animal]

[wild-special-interests]

Bat Profiles: Big Brown Bats vs. Little Brown Bats

Big Brown Bat (Eptesicus fuscus) [Source & Photo Credit: Michael Durham]

Little Brown Bat (Myotis lucifugus) [Source & Photo Credit: Jason Corbett]

It's easy to get confused when talking about these critters given how similar their names are and that there is a lot of overlap in their range. So let's do a little comparison and contrast!

IT'S ALL IN THE NAME: The key differences between these species come down to size. The LBB weighs only around 5-12g while the BBB weighs in at three times that size, from 15-26g!

RANGE: While both species live in North America, the BBB (Big Brown Bat) has a range that extends much farther South than the LBB (Little Brown Bat). The BBB can be found as far South as Panama. Meanwhile the LBB's range doesn't extend to the southwestern states, but it does reach farther North, stretching into Alaska.

CONSERVATION STATUS: The LBB is listed as endangered while the BBB is listed as "least concern".

HABITAT & DIET: Both species are insectivores who aren't too picky about where they forage. They each can also live in a wide variety of habitats, which makes sense given their vast ranges across North America. Both species often live in close proximity to humans (especially the LBB). The Little Brown Bat lives in colonies made up of hundreds or even thousands of individuals. Meanwhile the Big Brown Bat typically lives in maternal colonies, which are generally smaller (think tens of individuals up to a couple hundred).

Now let's get to the important stuff...

[daily-batposting]

Big Brown Bat, photographed by Jason Headley, (source)

[libraryofmoths]

Moth of the Week

Banded Tussock Moth

Halysidota tessellaris

[Right | Left]

The banded tussock moth is a part of the family Erebidae, the tiger moth family. It was first described in 1797 by James Edward Smith. This species is also called the pale tiger moth, banded tussock moth, and tessellated halisidota. The common name “banded tussock” moth comes from the clumps of longer hairs that protrude amid the shorter ones on the caterpillars, called “tussocks.” The scientific name “tessellaris” refers to a tessellated pattern, or a pattern made of small stones similar to the pattern on this moth’s forewings.

Description This species has light brown, tan, or cream wings and upper body. The abdomen is a yellow-orange. The forewings have a pattern of beige bands with thin black outlines while the hindwings are blank. On the back of the thorax are two orange stripes with a teal stripe on either side. Adult males and females are identical in color and pattern.

Wingspan: 3.81 - 5.08 cm (1.5 - 2 in)

The caterpillars are covered in long hair that ranges from yellow-orange to dark gray. At the head and bottom of the caterpillars are especially long clumps of white, black, or orange hairs.

Caterpillar length: 3.5 cm (≈1.38 in)

Diet and Habitat Larvae of this moth feed on some species of alder, ash, apple, beech, birch, blueberry, boxelder, chestnut, chokecherry, elm, grape, hackberry, hazel, hickory, oak, sycamore, walnut, and willow. They eat the leaf tissue between leaf veins.

This moth lives in North America and ranges from southern Canada to Texas and central Florida. They inhabit wooded areas with different types of deciduous trees. Adults may be seen by lights at night.

Mating In the north, this species is univoltine with one generation and year while in the south, it is multivoltine with two or more generations on the south. In Missouri, a two generation a year habitat, adult moths are seen from early May until the end of August. They presumably mate during this time. Eggs are laid in masses on the undersides of host plant leaves. Caterpillars overwinter in cocoons made from their own hair.

Predators This moth and its larvae are preyed on by birds, salamanders, toads, bats (Eptesicus fuscus), and 9 different parasitoid wasps (Braconidae).

Caterpillars of this moth are covered in long hairs that are thought to cause stinging and rashes like other similar species. The larvae behave as if they are chemically protected, but they have not been tested for alkaloids according to Wikipedia. Adults are confirmed to have and use alkaloids like other moths in the Erebidae family. They gain these toxins from their diet as caterpillars which makes them unpalatable to predators.

Fun Fact Although some moths in the subfamily Arctiinae are called “tussock moths,” there is a different subfamily (Lymantriinae) also in the Erebidae that are called the “true tussock moths.” Lymantriinae moths used to be in their own family but are now grouped together with other subfamilies under the family Erebidae.

Adult banded tussock moths are visually very similar to adult sycamore tussock moths (Halysidota harrisii). Scientists even need to dissect the two in order to tell the difference.

(Source: Wikipedia, UMassAmherst, MarylandBiodiversityProject, MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION, BugGuide)

[alcnfr]

We gotz Bats in our shutters...  Big Brown Bat (Eptesicus fuscus) I believe...

[transgender-chiroptera]

My workplace got visited by a little friend today! I think it was a brown bat, but I'm not sure. What kind of bat do you think it is?

Oh man, I couldn't really tell you without some closeups, geographical location, and some luck! There's a LOT of little brown bats with black wings lol. Perhaps some kind of Vesper bat? Which I know doesn't really narrow it down that much. Perhaps Myotis, Eptesicus, or maybe Pipistrellus?

Regardless, its a total cutie, and I hope the little guy is okay! Generally it's not a great sign if they're out in the day you know? You're so lucky to have seen a bat just chilling though! Not something that happens very often :)

[shin-alpha13]

Big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus)

[enkisstories]

And with that, it was time to leave Black Spire.

Given their travel companions on this mission, Rey’s friends wondered if maybe they should have opted for a Star Destroyer instead of the good old Millenium Falcon, to have enough space to avoid each other.

Surprisingly it were the two who had taken great pains to avoid each other during their first mission together, who were now lagging behind, walking side by side and being more comfortable to chat than ever before.

Armitage: "How did you spend the truce?"

Rose: "I volunteered at a pet shelter. I had almost made up my mind about adopting a little furball, when the Moonwood incident occured. You?"

Armitage: "I learned calligraphy. BB-8?"

BB-8: [Tried to learn to swim. Didn’t end well.]

Rose: “You should try floating on a tire next time you’re at a beach!"

Armitage: "Or on one of those inflatable lantern birds!"

Rose: "No, they wouldn’t be able to sustain his w... Wait, you have inflatable lantern birds in the First Order, too?"

Armitage: “Yes, we do. You see, at one point Snoke gave up on stomping out decadence and instead slapped a heavy tax on most luxury items.”

Armitage: “Some things, of course, are priceless.”

Rose: “Yes!”

Armitage: “With the planet destroyed, I’ll never again get another taxidermied Eptesicus ilumni.”

Rose: “Not quite what I meant, but close enough, I guess.”

---

This very-nearly-holding hands glitch is more adorable than most of the game’s actual romance interactions.

[vampire-meta-knight]

tell me about the bats

please?

Sure thing! I’ll tell you about some of the bats I caught with my biology professor (they weren’t harmed or killed, don’t worry).

(Side note, you need a permit to catch bats, so don’t try this at home, kids!)

First up, let’s talk mist nets! The nets my professor uses are actually meant for birds and are nearly invisible (especially at night) since the strands are so fine. However, bats can still actually see them with their echolocation! How do we counteract this? We put the nets over a stream or in a clearing that bats fly through so regularly that they don’t constantly echolocate because they’ve memorized their path, or they’re getting a drink of water and can’t echolocate with their mouth full. Then you carefully untangle them while wearing leather gloves (I used a crochet hook to help untangle them). You obviously must be gentle with them, especially their wings. The bats I was able to touch without gloves were as soft as a rabbit. Bats are typically very clean and groom each other as a way of bonding (though can still have mites, as many of the big browns did).

The most common one we caught, as well as the largest, was the big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus), which has the nickname Eptesicus fuss-n-cuss because of how loudly they yell at you when you catch them. These bats only weigh about as much as a car key, and the females are larger than the males. They have big teeth for crunching beetles. These ones also find their way into buildings frequently and are around humans more than some of the other species I caught. Big Brown pictured below (not my pic)

Eastern red bats (Lasiurus borealis) are such pretty bats; they look like Halloween with their orange fur and black wings. Their fur is designed for cooler weather, even having fur on their wings. They’re related to the hoary bat and look similar, though much smaller and redder. We didn’t catch any hoary bats since they fly higher than the nets go, but a cool fact about them is that their echolocation actually can be heard by some humans. It’s just on the threshold of frequencies we can pick up, so some people still can’t hear it.

Eastern Red on left, Hoary on right (not my pics)

Evening bats (Nycticeius humeralis) look like smaller big brown bats, but you can easily tell them apart by smell. They have a distinct “burnt oranges” smell.

Evening bat (not my pic)

Little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) have long hairs on their toes, so my professor likes to compare them to hobbits. They, like others in the genus Myotis, have a distress call that draws in other Myotis species (such as Indiana bats and Northern long-eared bats), so if you catch even one Myotis, you’re bound to get several more all in the same area of the net.

Little brown (not my pic)

Other fun facts: The shape and size of a bat’s wings determine its speed. Some bats are very fast, and others (such as those that eat spiders or caterpillars) can slowly hover.

When releasing a bat, you can’t put it on the ground, as they have a hard time getting off the ground. Instead, you toss them in the air so they can fly away. Alternatively, you can place them on a tree trunk, and they’ll sit there or climb a little higher before letting go to fly. This is also why they hang upside down, so they can just drop and go. Not many bats can jump—I know vampire bats can, but still not very high. However, don’t pick up a bat you’ve just found on the ground. Although I not nearly as many bats carry rabies as people often think, rabid bats will often wind up on the ground, so it’s best to leave them be.

To tell if a bat is an adult or juvenile, we hold their wings up to the light and check a joint in the arm part of their wing. If it’s clear, that means it still has cartilage, so it’s a juvenile. Adults will have solid bone, so it won’t be transparent.

Thanks for asking about bats!