Gray long-eared
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Gray long-eared ( Plecotus austriacus ) |
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| J. Fischer , 1829 |
The gray long-eared bat ( Plecotus austriacus ) is a species of the long-eared bat (genus Plecotus ).
features
The gray long-eared ear reaches an average head-trunk length of 41 to 58 millimeters, maximum lengths of up to 60 millimeters can occur. The tail is 37 to 55, maximum 57 millimeters long, and the wingspan is 255 to 292 millimeters. Like other long-eared bats, the particularly pronounced ears, which reach lengths of 31 to 41 millimeters and have about 22 to 24 transverse folds, are noticeable. The body weight is 5 to 13 grams.
The gray long-eared ear ( Plecotus auritus ) resembles the brown long-eared ear ( Plecotus auritus ) in appearance and size , but the color of the relatively long fur is slate-gray at the base of the hair, which means that the top is rather gray and rarely has a slight brownish tint. The underside of the body is also colored gray. The gray mask around the relatively large eyes is striking, and the animal's snout is a bit longer and more pointed. Other differences can be found in less noticeable features such as shorter toe hair, thickened penis end, and penis length.
As with the brown long-eared ear, the wings are relatively wide and the arm flight membrane attaches to the root of the toes. The foot spur ( calcar ) is so long that it is almost half the length of the tail flight membrane , an epiblema is missing.
distribution and habitat
The long-eared gray ear is common in almost all of Europe with the exception of the north. The northern limit of distribution extends roughly along the 53rd parallel from northern France through the Netherlands and northern Germany as well as northern Poland and the Ukraine, and the North Sea and Baltic Sea are not reached. The species has also been recorded in the extreme south of Great Britain. In the south, the distribution area extends to the European and North African Mediterranean coasts as well as Turkey, and a large part of the islands in the Mediterranean are inhabited by the species. The distribution areas of gray and brown long-eared ears overlap in large parts, whereas that of the gray long-eared ear does not extend so far to the north and before that goes to the Mediterranean in the south. There is also an overlap with Plecotus macrobullaris and its two subspecies, the Alpine long-eared and the Caucasian long-eared , whereby the latter live more at high altitudes in the mountains.
The gray long-eared species is a warmth-loving species that prefers to stay in cultivated landscapes. In Central Europe it mainly lives in areas of human dwellings and in warmer valleys, while largely avoiding larger forest areas. The maximum altitude at which this species was found was 1380 meters above sea level.
Way of life
Activity and quarters
The long-eared ears are loyal to their place and accordingly do not cover any major hikes. The distances between the winter and summer quarters are usually around 20 kilometers, the maximum determined hiking distances are around 62 kilometers.
During the summer, the bats stay in their summer roosts or nurseries , which are usually located in buildings. They are mainly found in roofs, where they sometimes live freely in the roof ridge or crevices or spaces between beams. The roosts are partly inhabited by other species, such as the great mouse-eared mouse ( Myotis myotis ) or the lesser horseshoe bat ( Rhinolophus hipposideros ). Individual animals are also found in caves and rarely in bat boxes. The summer quarters serve as a starting point for hunting and as a resting place for the day.
The winter quarters are mostly found in caves or cellars and tunnels with uniform temperatures of 2 to 9 ° C, rarely up to 12 ° C. Here the animals hang freely on the wall more often than the brown long-eared animals that winter in the same roosts, whereby they usually appear individually and only rarely in small groups of two to five animals. The long-eared gray ears hibernate from September / October to March / April.
nutrition
The gray long-eared hunt during the night. The excursion out of the summer quarters takes place at nightfall. The prey is mainly captured in the open air, whereby the long-eared people are considered to be skilful fliers with fluttering flight. The flight speeds are 10 to 30 km / h and the flight altitudes between 0.5 and 10 meters. They also collect prey from leaves that they can recognize with the ultrasound system.
Butterflies , especially Noctuidae , which make up between 70 and 90 percent of the diet, serve as food . They also hunt two-winged birds , beetles and other insects.
Reproduction and development
The mating season of the long-eared gray ear is in September and thus shortly before the start of hibernation. The mating takes place accordingly in the winter quarters. In summer, the females are found in relatively small groups of 10 to 30, in exceptional cases up to 100, animals in the nursery rooftops. Maternity roosts in trees or bat boxes have not yet been discovered. The young are born in mid to late June.
The females reach sexual maturity in their second year of life, the males probably earlier. The maximum age of the animals is around 25.5 years.
Danger
The gray long-eared population is said to be constant, with a decrease in the northern parts of the range in particular. The main reasons for this are the building up and destruction of the neighborhoods and the use of toxic pesticides and wood preservatives . At the IUCN , the long-eared gray ear is listed as not endangered (LR, low risk).
Philatelic
On August 1, 2019, the first day of issue, Deutsche Post AG issued a postage stamp with a face value of 95 + 40 euro cents with the image of the long-eared gray in the series For the Young . The design comes from the graphic artist Thomas Serres from Hattingen .
supporting documents
Evidence cited
- ↑ Plecotus austriacus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2007. Posted by: Chiroptera Specialist Group, 1996. Retrieved on January 4 of 2008.
literature
- Wilfried Schober, Eckhard Grimmberger: The bats of Europe - know, determine, protect. 2nd updated edition, Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH, Stuttgart 1998; Pages 187-189. ISBN 3-440-07597-4
- Reinald Skiba : European bats. Die Neue Brehm-Bücherei Volume 648, Westarp-Wissenschaften, Hohenwarsleben 2003; Pages 181-184.
