O’SHEA, CRYAN & BOGAN: UNITED STATES BAT SPECIES OF CONCERN 
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National Conservation Area during netting over small ephemeral pools in deep slickrock canyons 
within primarily pinon-juniper woodland and riparian habitats (Neubaum, 2017). Long-legged 
myotis ranked fifth in abundance (139 captures among 1,377 bats of 15 species) in mist-netting sur¬ 
veys at Dinosaur National Monument in northwestern Colorado and adjacent parts of Utah, at ele¬ 
vations ranging from 1,459 to 2,263 meters (Bogan and Mollhagen, 2016). 
Utah: In the Henry Mountains of southeastern Utah, long-legged myotis ranked third in rela¬ 
tive abundance of 15 species (71 captures among 572 individuals), where they were taken between 
1,439 and 3,078 meters but apparently moved to higher elevations above 2,000 meters after May 
(Mollhagen and Bogan, 1997). At Arch Canyon on the Colorado Plateau in southeastern Utah, this 
species was among the least abundant, with two bats captured among 295 individuals of 15 species 
taken at elevations ranging from 1,474 to 1,707 meters (Mollhagen and Bogan, 2016). 
Wyoming: Long-legged myotis were the most common species (99 individuals among 246 
bats of six species) captured in mist-net surveys over streams and beaver ponds in and near the 
Medicine Bow National Forest in southern Wyoming, at elevations ranging from 2,133 to 2,896 
meters in habitats encompassing lodgepole pine {Pinus contorta ) and spruce-fir forests (Graver, 
2002). They have been reported at elevations as high as 2,743 meters in northwestern Wyoming 
(Hoffmann et al., 1969). They ranked fourth among 12 species (26 captured among about 370 indi¬ 
viduals) documented by mist netting during 2012 in lower-elevation basin and foothills habitat in 
the south-central part of Wyoming (Abemethy et al., 2013). They ranked fifth of seven species (five 
of 112 individuals) captured in late summer-early autumn 2010-2011 by mist netting over water at 
elevations ranging from 1,568 to 3,116 meters in lodgepole pine, Engelmann spruce, subalpine fir, 
and Rocky Mountain juniper forests with open sagebrush and grassland habitats on the northern 
range of Yellowstone National Park, northwestern Wyoming (Johnson et al., 2017). 
South Dakota: Turner (1974) referred to long-legged myotis as the most common and widely 
distributed bat of the genus throughout the Black Hills in South Dakota and Wyoming. They were 
the second-most common species of bat (259 captures among 1,197 individuals of seven species) 
and the most common species of Myotis captured during summer 1995-1997 in the ponderosa pine 
dominated Black Hills of South Dakota at elevations ranging from 1,000 to 1,910 meters (Cryan et 
al., 2000), and the most abundant bat (47 of 209 individuals of nine species) captured over water 
sources near Jewel Cave National Monument, South Dakota, where males were predominant 
(Choate and Anderson, 1997). This species was much less common (sixth in abundance, with 13 
bats among 405 individuals of nine species) at the lower elevations (less than 1,000 meters) of Bad¬ 
lands National Park in western South Dakota (Bogan et al., 1996). 
Elevational Differences in Habitats among Sex and Age Classes: In topographically diverse 
areas, some species of bats are segregated in distribution by sex and age. Early mammalogists have 
noted that whereas males may use higher elevations, females of several species of western bats tend 
to use lower elevations to form maternity colonies (for example, Howell, 1920a). Reproductive 
females and young form maternity colonies at lower elevations where warmer temperatures pro¬ 
mote rapid growth and development of young, whereas males and non-reproductive females favor 
cooler higher elevations where deeper daily torpor can be achieved (see review in Weller et al., 
2009). In ponderosa pine forests of the southern Black Hills in South Dakota, reproductive female 
long-legged bats were more likely to be captured in mist nets over water at lower elevations than 
males and non-reproductive females (Cryan, 1997; Cryan et al., 2000). In ponderosa pine and 
pinon-juniper woodlands of the Cibola National Forest in New Mexico, a significant effect of ele¬ 
vation on probability of capturing reproductive females versus non-reproductive females and males 
was not detected, although a much higher proportion of reproductive females was found in the 
pinon-juniper dominated Gallinas Mountains (elevation 2,133 to 2,573 meters) than in the pon- 
