O’SHEA, CRYAN & BOGAN: UNITED STATES BAT SPECIES OF CONCERN 
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species consisted of greater proportions of deciduous forest than areas around bridges not used as 
roosts (Lance et al., 2001). They ranked fifth in relative abundance (29 Rafmesque’s big-eared bats 
captured among 419 bats of seven species) in extensive mist-net surveys conducted on 113 nights 
at 79 sites in nine study areas across Mississippi during 2002-2006, and were captured at two study 
areas in habitats characterized as bottomland hardwood forests, mixed hardwood forests, upland 
mixed hardwood forests, and swamp forest (McCartney, 2007). A second mist-netting survey in 
summer 2007 focused on four refuges within the Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge 
complex in western central Mississippi (McCartney and McCartney, 2008). No Rafmesque’s big- 
eared bats were captured in 28 nights of netting at 23 sites, despite documentation of 201 bats of 
five other species (McCartney and McCartney, 2008). In Mississippi, upland pine forest with aban¬ 
doned buildings has provided habitat for maternity colonies (Martin et al., 2011). 
North Carolina: In the Coastal Plain of North Carolina, this species tends to roost in trees and 
is associated with river swamps and bay lakes bordered by mature swamp forests (Clark et al., 
1985; Loeb, 2017). Rafinesque’s big-eared bats are unlikely to undergo extensive migrations, and 
in eastern North Carolina can be found in the same areas during winter and summer (Clark, 1990). 
Colonies in abandoned buildings in eastern North Carolina (a region without caves) were in areas 
with more closed-canopy forest than were colonies in unused abandoned buildings, and all were 
within one kilometer of a major water body (Clark, 1990). Rafinesque’s big-eared bats ranked sixth 
in relative abundance (20 captured out of 452 individuals of eight species) of bats netted around 
water and at corridors on the coastal Plain of North Carolina during summer (forest types unspec¬ 
ified), but were seldom detected by acoustic monitoring (Grider et al., 2016). 
Foraging and Dietary Analysis. — This species reportedly emerges only after dark and 
does not forage in twilight (Jones, 1977; Sealander and Heidt, 1990). Wing morphology and flight 
characteristics suggest that these bats are slow flyers with excellent maneuverability, and perhaps 
an ability to hover and glean at times (Lacki and Ladeur, 2001), characteristics that are adaptive in 
complex forest habitats but that may make them less competitive with more common, faster-flying 
bats in open areas (Belwood, 1992). In northeastern Arkansas, these bats were more likely to be 
captured over land rather than over water, and were associated with more dense vegetation cover 
that may provide higher insect prey abundance (Medlin and Risch, 2008). 
Foraging areas of these bats averaged across studies ranged 93 to 165 hectares, with maximum 
flight distances from roosts ranging up to 1.2 km (Lacki and Dodd, 2011). Foraging areas of five 
Rafmesque’s big-eared bats tracked by radio telemetry in southeastern Kentucky overlapped, were 
from 62-225 hectares in area, and were at locally higher elevations (Hurst and Lacki, 1999). Cen¬ 
ters of foraging areas ranged from about 0.1 to 1.2 kilometers away from the diurnal roost. The bats 
foraged primarily in oak-hickory forest rather than yellow poplar or beech-maple forests, but oak 
and oak-hickory forests were also closer to the roosts (Hurst and Lacki, 1999). Four male 
Rafmesque’s big-eared bats radio tracked in South Carolina during the late summer and early 
autumn did most of their foraging during the first four hours after sunset and two hours before sun¬ 
rise (Menzel et al., 2001). These bats foraged in young pine stands in upland areas rather than bot¬ 
tomland habitats (only 9% of locations) and exhibited relatively small home ranges (about 93 
hectares using the 95% adaptive kernel method). In southwestern Kentucky, 39 radio-tracked 
Rafmesque’s big-eared bats of both sexes foraged over individual home ranges averaging 170 ± 21 
(SE) hectares, but with the 5 adult male home ranges averaging 96 ± 52 hectares (Johnson and 
Lacki, 2013a). There the bats fed primarily on moths, and home ranges of foraging females were 
associated with both wetland habitat and upland deciduous forest but not open fields; foraging 
activities followed the simultaneously monitored distribution and availability of moths, which con¬ 
stituted 80% of prey (Johnson and Lacki, 2013a). 
