OZARK BIG-EARED BAT Plecotus townsendii ingens (Handley) 



Order: CHIROPTERA Family: VESPERTILIONIDAE 



Distinguishing characteristics : A bat with enormous (1-1/2 inch) ears and lumps on 

 the snout. Closely resembles the more common eastern big-eared bat (Plecotus 

 rafinesquii ), but with reddish fur rather than gray, and tan beneath rather than white; 

 eastern species . This race is larger and more reddish than any other race of townsendii ■ 



Present distribution : Known only from straggling individuals found in a dozen caves 

 in northwestern Arkansas and neighboring Oklahoma and Missouri . 



Former distribution : Probably the same . 



Status : Numbers apparently stable . 



Estimated numbers : Less than 100. 



Breeding rate in the wild : One young per year . 



Reasons for decline : Probably always occurred in small numbers . A relict popu- 

 lation. The species is intolerant of human disturbance; disturbance causes the bats 

 to abandon favored roosts . 



Protective measures already taken : None . 



Measures proposed : Secure protection for the crevice cave in Devils Den State Park, 

 Arkansas, in which most known specimens have been found. 



Number in captivity : None . 



Breeding potential in captivity ; Poor . 



Remarks: This race is known only from occasional specimens found in caves, never 

 more than four at a time. All records probably represent stragglers. Surely there 

 must be a nursery colony somewhere in an Ozark cave. So long as it remains unknown 

 to man, this race will probably persist. 



References : 



Barbour, R. W., and W . H. Davis. 1969. Bats of America . Univ. Press of 



Kentucky, Lexington. 

 Handley, Charles O, , Jr. 1959. A revision of American bats of the genera 



Euderma and Plecotus . Proc . U.S. Natl. Mus . 110:95-246. 

 Sealander, John A., Jr. 1956. A provisional check-list and key to the 



mammals of Arkansas (with annotations) . Amer. Midi. Nat. 56 (2); 257-296 . 



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