O’SHEA, CRYAN & BOGAN: UNITED STATES BAT SPECIES OF CONCERN 
113 
Myotis evotis — Long-eared myotis (Family Vespertilionidae) 
Conservation Status. — National and International Designations: U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service (1994, 1996a,b): Species of Concern (inactive, former Category 2 candidate for listing 
under the U.S. Endangered Species Act). U.S. Forest Service (2005a,b): Sensitive Species. Bureau 
of Land Management (2009b, 2010a,b, 2011b, 2015a): Sensitive Species (California, Idaho, Mon¬ 
tana, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming state offices). International Union for the 
Conservation of Nature (2017): Least Concern. NatureServe (2017): Rounded Global Status G5, 
Secure. 
State Designations: Arizona Game and Fish Department (2012): Tier 1C Species of Greatest 
Conservation Need. California Department of Fish and Wildlife (2015b, 2017): Special Animals 
List, Species of Special Concern. North Dakota Game and Fish (Hagen et al., 2005; Dyke et al., 
2015): Species of Conservation Priority Level III. Nevada Department of Wildlife (2013): Species 
of Conservation Priority. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (2015a): Species of Con¬ 
cern. Wyoming Game and Fish Department (2017a,b): Species of Greatest Conservation Need, Tier 
III. 
Description. — This is a 
medium to large myotis with 
notably long ears (Fig. 25). The 
long-eared myotis has brown to 
straw-colored, soft, long (about 
10 millimeters mid-dorsally) 
glossy dorsal pelage with black¬ 
ish bases to hairs; the pelage con¬ 
trasts markedly with the wing 
membranes and the dark, black¬ 
ish ears that extend five millime¬ 
ters or more beyond the tip of the 
snout when laid forward (Man¬ 
ning and Jones, 1989). Forearm 
lengths range from approximate¬ 
ly 35-41 millimeters, ears are 
greater than 15-16 millimeters 
long, and body mass typically ranges five to eight grams (Manning and Jones, 1989; Verts and Car¬ 
away, 1998; Solick and Barclay, 2006a; Armstrong et al., 2011). A minute fringe of short hairs can 
sometimes be discerned on the trailing edge of the tail membrane, but these are much less con¬ 
spicuous than in the fringed myotis (M. thysanodes ). Some individuals in western Washington can 
overlap in cranial and external morphology with Keen’s myotis, Myotis keenii (Van Zyll De Jong 
andNagorsen, 1994). 
Distribution and Systematics. — The long-eared myotis occurs in western North America 
from Baja California, Mexico to southern British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, Canada 
(Fig. 26). In the United States, it is found in suitable habitat in western North and South Dakota, 
Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, California, Oregon, 
and Washington. 
Six subspecies are recognized (Manning, 1993), with four known from the United States: 
Myotis evotis evotis, found in the coastal range of California from the San Francisco area south¬ 
ward; Myotis evotis chrysonotus, found in southeastern Oregon, northern and central California 
Figure 25. Long-eared myotis, Myotis evotis (photo by J. Scott Alten- 
bach). 
