O’SHEA, CRYAN & BOGAN: UNITED STATES BAT SPECIES OF CONCERN 
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grassland bat that frequents watercourses. Eight cave myotis were captured among 108 bats of ten 
species netted over water in Guadalupe Canyon in Hidalgo County, southern New Mexico (rank¬ 
ing third in relative abundance; Mumford et al., 1964). They were the second least frequently cap¬ 
tured (a total of three bats) among 1,595 individuals of 20 species taken in the Mogollon Moun¬ 
tains of western New Mexico and adjacent Arizona, where they were found in habitats below 1,524 
meters (Jones, 1965). None were captured in a separate analysis limited to three sites over water in 
western New Mexico and including additional years of sampling, where 19 species and 1,004 indi¬ 
viduals were taken at all three sites; habitats at capture sites ranged from riparian hardwoods at 
1,465 meters to pine-spruce-fir forest at 2,620 meters elevation (Jones and Suttkus, 1972). A sur¬ 
vey that took place at 37 sites across several habitat types in much of New Mexico in 2006 yield¬ 
ed 1,752 bats of 21 species with 12 cave myotis, ranking fifteenth in relative abundance (Geluso, 
2006, 2017). 
Texas and Kansas: Cave myotis were reported as uncommon at Big Bend National Park, 
Texas during 1967-1971 (61 captured among 4,807 bats of 18 species taken at 32 sites, ranking 
thirteenth), where they were only found in lower elevation vegetation zones (Easterla, 1973). They 
remained low in relative abundance (ninth in relative abundance among 17 species, with 1.8% of 
1,978 bats captured) during a subsequent survey during 1996-1998 that emphasized these lowland 
habitats but included five vegetation zones; most captures were in shrub desert within canyons 
(Higginbotham and Ammerman, 2002). This species ranked seventh among 14 (12 out of 542 indi¬ 
viduals) captured by mist-net sampling at 108 localities over water in northern Chihuahuan desert 
habitats described as desert scrub, desert grassland, riparian, and juniper roughland at Big Bend 
Ranch State Park, northwest and upstream of the national park, in the Trans-Pecos region of Texas 
(Yancey, 1997). 
Cave myotis were low in relative abundance (two among 1,329 individuals in 12 species, rank¬ 
ing eleventh) captured in mist nets set over water at Palo Duro Canyon State Park in the Texas Pan¬ 
handle, where habitats consisted of mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa )-juniper associations, grasses, 
and cacti and a riparian zone of cottonwood (Populus deltoides ) and salt cedar (Tamarix ramosis- 
sima ) set within sandstone, shale, and limestone canyon walls that included caves (Riedle and Mat- 
lack, 2013). Echolocation activity of this species was sampled in the urban environments of Waco, 
Texas (Li and Wilkins, 2014). Habitats used differed from those of several other species of local 
bats but were similar to those of big brown bats, favoring areas with the presence of water and low- 
density residential development (Li and Wilkins, 2014). In Kansas, cave myotis are only known 
from the Gypsum Hills region of the south-central part of the state, with some expansion of the dis¬ 
tribution to adjacent areas by adapting to roost in buildings rather than caves (Sparks and Choate, 
2000 ). 
Foraging and Dietary Analysis. — In Kansas, M. velifer were characterized as feeding at 
heights of four to 12 meters earlier in the night, but at lower heights just before dawn (Kunz, 1974). 
Habitats utilized in this region included prairies and juniper-elm associations in canyons and hill¬ 
sides, with riparian woodlands utilized along floodplains. On warmer nights, they foraged in open 
areas adjacent to forested areas and above canyons but fed close to dense vegetation on cooler 
nights; they foraged in light rain but returned to roosts when precipitation was heavy (Kunz, 1974). 
Most foraging took place early after emergence, with a secondary period of foraging activity before 
dawn, although when first becoming volant the young foraged in a single, concentrated time peri¬ 
od (Twente, 1955b; Kunz, 1974). Night-roosting behavior increased later in summer (Kunz, 1974). 
Peak food consumption in females reached 30% of body mass nightly and occurred in summer just 
prior to weaning of young (Kunz, 1974). 
Shortly after emergence, light-tagged individuals in high rolling plains and deep canyons of 
