Big-eared Bat in North Carolina 
139 
Fig. 1. Specific locality records for Plecotus townsendii virginianus in West 
Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, and North Carolina. 
(July-September). The only other bats found in the Avery County caves 
inhabited by Plecotus were wintering Pipistrellus subflavus, a single 
Myotis leibii (NCSM 4578) netted in the entrance to one cave in July 
1984, and a single Myotis keenii netted in September 1986. Two 
rodents, Neotoma floridana and Clethrionomys gapperi , were also 
found in these caves. 
The closest P. rafinesquii locality known to us is Taylorsville, 
Alexander County, N.C., 66 km to the southeast. To date, P. townsendii 
has been found locally only in a geographic area, forest type, and eleva- 
tion zone not known to be occupied by P. rafinesquii , whereas in east- 
ern Kentucky the two species are known to occur sympatrically (Rippy 
and Harvey 1965). Summer mist-netting of streams near the Avery 
County caves (but at an elevation 300 m below the forest type surround- 
ing caves) yielded no Plecotus. 
The locations of the sites at which bats were encountered are on file 
at the North Carolina State Museum of Natural History and the Office 
of Endangered Species, USFWS, Asheville. 
