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tats (Easterla, 1973). However, they were rarely captured (two captures among 1,978 bats of 17 
species) in a subsequent study during 1996-1998 that emphasized surveys in lowland habitat at the 
park (Higginbotham and Ammerman, 2002). Fringed myotis ranked eleventh among 14 species 
(two out of 542 individuals) captured in mist nets at 108 locations over water in northern Chi- 
huahuan desert habitats at Big Bend Ranch State Park in the Trans-Pecos region of Texas; the two 
bats were captured over pools in sparsely vegetated areas within canyons (Yancey, 1997). 
Central Rocky Mountains and Western Great Plains: Colorado and Utah: The fringed 
myotis is moderately abundant in Colorado. They have been found in ponderosa pine and Douglas 
fir forests along the Colorado Front Range in Boulder County, where they ranked fourth in relative 
abundance in one study, with 157 captured among 1,398 bats of 10 species documented during 
1996-2000 (Adams et al., 2003), but ranked eighth out of nine species in a second survey in the 
mountains to the north in Larimer County, with 10 captured among 634 individuals (O’Shea et ah, 
2011b). This species was rarely reported in the urban or urbanizing corridor east of the Colorado 
Front Range (O’Shea et ah, 2011b). They ranked tenth among 15 species with 41 bats out of 1,996 
individuals captured at Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado during 2006-2007, but 
fifth among 11 species (nine bats out of 189 individuals) during an earlier study that concentrated 
netting at small, isolated pools (Chung-MacCoubrey and Bogan, 2003; O’Shea et ah, 2011a). They 
were the least abundant species (three captures among 546 bats of 11 species) captured over ponds 
during surveys in pinon-juniper woodland at about 2,100 meters elevation in the Uintah Basin of 
Moffat County in northwestern Colorado during 1979-1981 (Freeman, 1984). In western Col¬ 
orado, this species ranked eighth in relative abundance of 16 species (22 among 899 bats) captured 
at Colorado National Monument and the adjacent Mclnnis Canyons National Conservation Area 
during netting over small ephemeral pools in deep slickrock canyons within primarily pinon- 
juniper woodland and riparian habitats (Neubaum, 2017). Fringed myotis ranked eleventh in abun¬ 
dance (31 captures among 1,377 bats of 15 species) in 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 Colorado Plateau in southeastern Utah, these were the least abundant 
species, with one bat captured among 295 bats of 15 species taken at elevations ranging from 1,474 
to 1,707 meters (Mollhagen and Bogan, 2016). In the Henry Mountains of southeastern Utah, they 
ranked eighth in relative abundance of 15 species (34 captures among 572 individuals), where they 
were taken between 1,295 and 2,713 meters (Mollhagen and Bogan, 1997). 
Wyoming and South Dakota: During 2012, fringed myotis ranked tenth of 12 species in rela¬ 
tive abundance (four captured among about 370 individuals) documented by mist netting in lower 
elevation basin and foothills habitat in the south-central part of Wyoming (Abemethy et al., 2013). 
None were taken in surveys in lodgepole pine and spruce-fir forests of the Medicine Bow Nation¬ 
al Forest in southern Wyoming (where 246 bats of six species were documented; Graver, 2002), 
nor during late summer-early autumn netting in primarily lodgepole pine, Engelmann spruce, sub- 
alpine fir, and Rocky Mountain juniper forests on the northern range of Yellowstone National Park, 
northwestern Wyoming (where 112 bats of seven species were captured; Johnson et al., 2017). 
Fringed myotis are moderately abundant in parts of South Dakota, were they were the third 
most abundant species of bat (187 captures among 1,197 individuals of seven species) and the sec¬ 
ond most abundant species of Myotis captured in predominantly ponderosa pine forest in the south¬ 
ern Black Hills (Cryan et al., 2000). They were the fourth most common species in sampling at 
Badlands National Park in South Dakota (29 individuals among 405 bats of nine species; Bogan et 
al., 1996). 
Elevational Differences in Habitats among Sex and Age Classes: In topographically diverse 
areas, there are elevational effects on distribution of reproductive female fringed myotis. It has 
