24 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 
Series 4, Volume 65, Supplement I 
indicates that C. rafinesquii is the older, most basal of the living species of Corynorhinus (Piaggio 
and Perkins, 2005; Lack and Van Den Bussche, 2009). Two subspecies were recognized by Hand- 
ley (1959) based on morphology: C. rafinesquii rafinesquii distributed primarily in the inland 
states, and C. rafinesquii macrotis found within the Gulf and Atlantic coastal states (Jones, 1977). 
However, modem phylogenetic analysis fails to distinguish these two subspecies, but instead doc¬ 
uments two overlapping clades that do not follow the earlier proposed subspecies distributions 
(Piaggio and Perkins, 2005; Piaggio et al., 2011). 
Earlier literature may refer to this species as C. macrotis. For explanation of recent changes in 
nomenclature of this and other bats formerly grouped under the genus Plecotus, see the species 
account in this volume for Corynorhinus townsendii. Jones (1977) provides a taxonomic synonymy 
of past scientific names applied to Rafinesque’s big-eared bat prior to the more recent changes 
noted in our account for Townsend’s big-eared bat. The generic name Corynorhinus stems from 
Greek words meaning “club” and “nose”. This bat is named in honor of C.S. Rafinesque, a French 
naturalist and explorer of the United States during the early 1800’s. Other English common names 
include eastern big-eared bat, southeastern big-eared bat, eastern lump-nosed bat, eastern mule¬ 
eared bat, and eastern long-eared bat. 
Habitats and Relative Abundance.— Rafinesque’s big-eared bat is typically found in 
forested regions of the southeastern U.S., especially in bottomland hardwood forests (which have 
declined markedly since colonization times, for example, Twedt and Loesch, 1999). Local distri¬ 
butions are sometimes poorly known (Jones, 1977; Clark, 2003; Martin et al., 2011), but they also 
utilize upland hardwood and pine forests in some areas, particularly mountainous regions with 
caves and mines in the northern portions of their range (Lacki and Dodd, 2011; Loeb, 2017). In 
contrast to generally high relative abundance in bottomland hardwoods, bat community surveys in 
pine forests typically yield relative abundances of two percent or fewer of total captures or acoustic 
detections of all bat species that can be identified as Rafinesque’s big-eared bats (reviewed by 
Debelica-Lee and Wilkins, 2014; Morris et al., 2010). Findings on habitats and relative abundance 
of these bats are given below on a state-by-state basis. 
Arkansas: Rafinesque’s big-eared bats were the second most abundant species of bat encoun¬ 
tered in mist-netting surveys in bottomland hardwood forests of six wildlife management areas and 
national wildlife refuges in Arkansas (65 out of 302 bats of eight species; Medlin and Risch, 2008). 
They also ranked second in abundance (71 captures among 556 bats of eight species) at 35 sites 
surveyed during summers 1997-1999 in bottomland hardwood forest of the Rex Hancock/Black 
Swamp Wildlife Management Area of eastern Arkansas (Hoffman, 1999). 
Georgia and South Carolina: In Georgia, these bats were thought to occur throughout the 
state, but with an absence of records from the Piedmont and upper Coastal Plain thought to be due 
to low survey effort; they ranked low in relative abundance (26 records) among 1,222 combined 
museum and capture records of bats of 16 species (Menzel et al., 2000). Menzel et al. (2003) exam¬ 
ined records of all species of bats across the four physiographic provinces of South Carolina based 
on 1,002 museum specimens and reports of 2,002 bats captured during surveys. Rafinesque’s big- 
eared bat was found in three of the provinces (Blue Ridge Mountains, Upper and Lower Coastal 
Plains) but no records were found for the Piedmont. Reasons for lack of Rafinesque’s big-eared 
bats in the Piedmont remain unknown. This species was intermediate in relative abundance of 
records (264) among 3,004 combined museum and capture records of bats of 14 species compiled 
for the state. 
Louisiana and Mississippi: This species was the most abundant bat in mist-net surveys of 
bottomland hardwood forests in northeastern Louisiana (56 bats among 112 bats of four species; 
Rice, 2009). Areas in west-central Louisiana around concrete bridges used as day roosts by this 
