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PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 
Series 4, Volume 65, Supplement I 
derosa-pine dominated San Mateo Mountains (elevation 2,347 to 2,682 m; Chung MacCoubrey, 
2005). Females outnumbered males at Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado, where 
capture sites over water ranged from 1,890 to 2,361 m, and the proportion of females did not vary 
between years (O’Shea et al., 2011a). Allen (1939) suggested that only males reached the highest 
elevations in California (but based on limited data). 
Foraging and Dietary Analysis. — Foraging home ranges of long-legged myotis in north¬ 
ern Idaho did not vary among adult males and pregnant or lactating females, ranging in area from 
means of 304 to 647 hectares; habitats used for foraging favored stands of medium-sized trees in 
mid-slope positions (Johnson et al., 2007). Several radio-tagged individuals in ponderosa pine 
forests in northwestern Arizona foraged at least 10 kilometers away from day roosts (Herder and 
Jackson, 2000); they were captured at distances as far as 9.3 kilometers away from diurnal roosts 
in the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico (Bogan et al., 1998). 
In the Huachuca Mountains of southeastern Arizona, long-legged myotis were observed to for¬ 
age at dusk among the tops of oak trees (Hoffmeister and Goodpaster, 1954). They were charac¬ 
terized as rapid and direct flyers based on additional observations in southeastern Arizona, where 
they hunted flying insects (moths, beetles, and flies) at tree-top level along margins of clumps of 
trees, fixing on prey at distances of five to 10 meters (Fenton and Bell, 1979). In southern Alber¬ 
ta, Canada, light-tagged individuals were observed foraging in the open in forested areas and high 
along cliff walls, and the diet mainly consisted of lepidopterans (Saunders and Barclay, 1992). 
They were described as foraging relatively high (about 10 meters above) over forest canopy along 
the banks of the Okanagan River in southern British Columbia (Fenton et al., 1980). 
Dietary studies suggest that lepidopterans are the dominant food group for long-legged myotis. 
Moths made up most of the diet in Oregon, followed by other groups, such as homopterans, 
coleopterans, and isopterans (Whitaker et al., 1977; Whitaker et al., 1981; Henny et al., 1982; Ober 
and Hayes, 2008). Dietary analysis of stomach contents of individuals from northwestern Colorado 
indicated that lepidopterans were the major dietary component, followed by trichopterans and 
coleopterans in descending order of proportional frequency, with other groups of insects each con¬ 
stituting less than 10% (Armstrong et al., 1994). Moths also were the dominant dietary item of 
these bats in a ponderosa pine forest in northern Arizona (Warner, 1985); in northern Idaho the diet 
was primarily lepidopterans, followed by coleopterans and to a lesser degree other groups (John¬ 
son et al., 2007; Lacki et al., 2007). Stomach contents of eight bats from southeastern Montana con¬ 
tained lepidopterans, with additional items including small coleopterans, trichopterans, homopter¬ 
ans, dipterans, and hymenopterans (Jones et al., 1973). They were described as moth strategists and 
open-air foragers based on dietary analysis of bats sampled in the San Mateo Mountains of New 
Mexico (Black, 1974). The diet was primarily lepidopterans followed by neuropterans, trichopter¬ 
ans and coleopterans in descending order of proportional volume, with lesser amounts of other prey 
(including caterpillars) taken during a spruce budworm (Choristoneura occidentalis) outbreak in 
Douglas fir forests of southern British Columbia (Wilson and Barclay, 2006). 
Long-legged myotis were in the species group sampled by Adams et al. (2003) that preferred 
drinking at watering places with higher concentrations of calcium and other minerals, perhaps pro¬ 
viding a supplement to dietary intake that would be most critical to reproductive females and 
weaned volant juveniles. 
Roosting Habits. — Winter Roosts: These bats have been observed hibernating in caves at 
Jewel Cave National Monument, South Dakota (counts up to 50; Choate and Anderson, 1997), 
Azure Cave in Montana (Hendricks et al., 2000), and at Cadomin and Wapiabi caves in Alberta (10 
torpid individuals in both caves combined; Schowalter, 1980). Hibernating long-legged myotis 
were often not distinguished from other species during internal winter surveys at these caves. 
