O’SHEA, CRYAN & BOGAN: UNITED STATES BAT SPECIES OF CONCERN 
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of 1,595 bats) in the Mogollon Mountains of eastern Arizona and western New Mexico, where they 
were most often captured in evergreen forest above 2,134 meters (Jones, 1965). In a separate analy¬ 
sis limited to three sites over water in western New Mexico and including additional years of sam¬ 
pling, they ranked twelfth of 19 species (nine captures among 1,004 individuals), but were only 
taken at one site, located in pine-spruce-fir forest at 2,500 meters elevation (Jones and Suttkus, 
1972). Twelve spotted bats were captured over ponds, streams, and along cliff faces at four sites in 
the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico, ranging from 2,012 to 2,729 meters elevation and including 
pinon-juniper woodland, ponderosa pine, and mixed conifer forests; this was the fourth least fre¬ 
quently captured of 15 species and 1,532 bats netted in the region during 1995-1997 (Bogan et al., 
1998). Echolocation activity of these bats was detected in riparian, conifer, pinon-juniper, and pre¬ 
viously (20 years) intensely burned ponderosa pine habitat at the Jemez Mountains study area, but 
was most common in conifer and previously burned areas (Ellison et al., 2005). Also in northern 
New Mexico, this species ranked ninth in relative abundance among 302 bats of 10-11 species net¬ 
ted in mostly ponderosa pine habitat on Mount Taylor in 2006 and 2007 (Geluso, 2008). They 
ranked thirteenth in abundance among 16-17 species (five of 855 individuals) captured in mist nets 
over ponds during 1970 at Nogal Canyon in the San Mateo Mountains, Socorro County, New Mex¬ 
ico, in habitats described as pinon-juniper, pine-oak woodlands, and mixed-conifer forest (Black, 
1974). They ranked seventeenth among 21 species (nine bats among 1,752 individuals) captured 
over water during 2006 at sites with previous records for spotted bats throughout their range in 
New Mexico (Geluso, 2006). Some fairly exhaustive bat faunal surveys using mist nets elsewhere 
in New Mexico have failed to document the presence of this species (for example, Chung-Mac- 
Coubrey, 2005; Geluso and Geluso, 2012). 
Texas: At Big Bend National Park in Texas, this species ranked fourteenth in relative abun¬ 
dance among 18 species (54 out of 4,807 bats captured) documented in surveys conducted during 
1967-1971, and were found in lowland shrub desert and river floodplain/arroyo habitats near cliff 
walls (Easterla, 1973). They were rarely captured (two among 1,978 captures of 17 species) in a 
subsequent study during 1996-1998 that emphasized surveys in lowland habitat at the park (Hig¬ 
ginbotham and Ammerman, 2002). 
Central Rocky Mountains: Spotted bats were the second to least abundant bat (10 captured) 
during mist netting of 1,996 bats of 15 species in pinon-juniper woodland, ponderosa pine, and 
mixed conifer forests at Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado (O’Shea et al., 
2011a). In western Colorado, this species was the least abundant of 16 species (one among 899 
bats) captured at Colorado National Monument and the adjacent Mclnnis Canyons National Con¬ 
servation Area during netting over small ephemeral pools in deep slickrock canyons within prima¬ 
rily pinon-juniper woodland and riparian habitats (Neubaum, 2017). Spotted bats were the least fre¬ 
quently captured (one bat taken at 2,363 meters) among 572 bats of 15 species netted over water 
at multiple vegetation zones in the Henry Mountains of Utah (Mollhagen and Bogan, 1997). They 
ranked thirteenth in abundance (16 captures out of 1,377 bats of 15 species) in mist-netting surveys 
at Dinosaur National Monument in northwestern Colorado and adjacent parts of Utah, at elevations 
ranging from 1,459 to 2,263 meters (Bogan and Mollhagen, 2016). At Arch Canyon on the Col¬ 
orado Plateau in southeastern Utah, this species ranked seventh in abundance, with 11 bats captured 
out of 295 individuals of 15 species taken at elevations ranging from 1,474 to 1,707 meters (Moll¬ 
hagen and Bogan, 2016). 
Foraging and Dietary Analysis. — Black (1974) suggested that these bats were between, 
within, and below-canopy foragers. Spotted bats were often heard foraging over open meadows 
and wetlands near coniferous forests in the Sierra Nevada of California but not within forests or 
over water, and were also documented foraging at a variety of lower-elevation habitats (Pierson and 
