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Home -> Kingdom Animalia -> Phylum Chordata -> Subphylum Vertebrata -> Class Mammalia -> Order Chiroptera -> Family Phyllostomidae -> Subfamily Phyllostominae -> Species Macrotus californicus

Macrotus californicus
California leaf-nosed bat



2010/02/07 03:36:46.555 US/Eastern

By Sarah Abbott

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Chiroptera
Family: Phyllostomidae
Subfamily: Phyllostominae
Genus: Macrotus
Species: Macrotus californicus

Geographic Range

The California leaf-nosed bat, the most northern member of the Phyllostomidae, lives in Northen Mexico, Baja California, southern Arizona, southern California and southern Nevada (Constantine 1998).

Biogeographic Regions:
nearctic (native ).

Habitat

This species can be found in the caves and abandoned mines in deserts of South West North America. In the winter, they choose roosts that are geothermically heated (Tuttle 1998).

Terrestrial Biomes:
desert or dune ; chaparral .

Physical Description

Mass
12.50 g (average)
(0.44 oz)


Wingspan
34 cm (average)
(13.39 in)


Basal Metabolic Rate


The Macrotus californicus has short broad wings and huge ears and eyes (Tuttle 1998). It's skull has no post orbital processes and a complete premaxillae.

Some key physical features:
endothermic ; bilateral symmetry .

Reproduction

Breeding season
Mating takes place in the fall, birth in the spring

Number of offspring
1 to 2; avg. 1

Gestation period
8 months (average)

Time to weaning
1 months (average)

Age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
6 months (average)

Age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
12 months (average)

During the summer, most males form separate colonies close to female groups of around 100-500 members. However, a handful of dominant males stay within the female colony and have harem groups consisting of 5-25 females and young (Tuttle 1998).

Mating systems:
polygynous .

Mating takes place in the fall. For the first several months of gestation, the embryo develops extremely slowly. Development speeds up in the spring, and young are born in June. (Tuttle 1998).

Key reproductive features:
iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; viviparous .

Infants are born with open eyes and ears and a full coat of fur. Infants nurse for one month. While females become sexually mature their first fall, males take a full year to reach sexual maturity (Harris 1999).

Parental investment:
female parental care .

Behavior

These bats have year long activity and do not migrate or hibernate. Members of this species are nocturnal, generally emerging 90-120 minutes after sunset during the summer, returning to their roost approximately one hour before sunrise (Harris 1999).

Key behaviors:
nocturnal ; motile ; social ; colonial .

Food Habits

M. californicus is an insectivore. It uses its unuusal hovering ability to capture insects from the ground instead of from the air. It also uses its keen sense of vision over echolocation whenever light is adequate (Bell 1986). They feed up to 1.3km from their roost (Harris 1999).

Foods eaten include: crickets, moths, beetles, and grasshoppers, cicadas and caterpillars.

Primary Diet:
carnivore (insectivore ).

Animal Foods:
insects.

Ecosystem Roles

M. californicus plays an important role in insect control.

Economic Importance for Humans: Positive

M. californicus, an insectivorous bat, helps to control pest populations.

Ways that people benefit from these animals:
controls pest population.

Conservation Status

IUCN Red List: [link]:
Vulnerable.

US Federal List: [link]:
No special status.

CITES: [link]:
No special status.

Populations of this species are definitely decreasing. Human disturbances in caves and the reestablishment of mines is driving these animals out of their homes.

For More Information

Find Macrotus californicus information at

Contributors

Sarah Abbott (author), University of Michigan.
Ondrej Podlaha (editor), University of Michigan.

References

Bell, Gary P., February 1986. Visual Acuity Sensitivity and Binocularity in a Gleaning Insectivouous Bat Macrotus californicus Chiroptera Phyllostomidae. Animal Behaviour, 34: 409-414.

Constantine, D. August 1998. Range Extensions of Ten Species of Bats in California. Bulletin Southern California Academy of Sciences, 97: 49-75.

Harris, J. 1999. "California Leaf-Nosed Bat" (On-line). Accessed October 11,2001 at http://www.sibr.com/mammals/M019.html.

Tuttle, Merlin, Winter 1998. "The California Leaf-nosed Bat, Sophisticated Desert Survivor" (On-line). Accessed October 11, 2001 at http://www.batcon.org/batsmag/v16n4-3.html.

2010/02/07 03:36:47.525 US/Eastern

To cite this page: Abbott, S. 2002. "Macrotus californicus" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed February 09, 2010 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Macrotus_californicus.html.

Disclaimer: The Animal Diversity Web is an educational resource written largely by and for college students. ADW doesn't cover all species in the world, nor does it include all the latest scientific information about organisms we describe. Though we edit our accounts for accuracy, we cannot guarantee all information in those accounts. While ADW staff and contributors provide references to books and websites that we believe are reputable, we cannot necessarily endorse the contents of references beyond our control.

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