FIRST RECORD OF AN ADULT MALE EVENING BAT FROM KANSAS

Authors

Clay R. Davis, Midwestern State University, Wichita Falls, TXFollow
Justin G. Boyles, Kansas State University

Date of this Version

2005

Document Type

Article

Citation

THE PRAIRIE NATURALIST, Volume 37, No. 2, June 2005, pp125-126.

Comments

Published by the Great Plains Natural Science Society. Used by permission.

Abstract

The evening bat (Nycticeius humeralis) occurs throughout the eastern and southeastern United States and into extreme northeastern Mexico, approximately 42° to 18° N latitude (Watkins and Shump 1981). Although records of females are common, records of adult male evening bats are rare in the northern portion of the species range (Watkins 1969, Watkins 1972). Jones et al. (1967) suggested that adult males might not accompany females to at least some parts of the parturient range. As part of a larger study (Davis 2003) we surveyed bats on Fort Leavenworth Military Reservation (FLMR), Leavenworth County, Kansas in July 2002 and June and July 2003. Bats were captured by using mist netting, for a total effort of 48 net nights over two summers. Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinates were recorded for all collecting locations and are available from authors. We captured II evening bats, including three specimens now deposited in the Collection of Recent Mammals, Midwestern State University (MWSU). Ten of the evening bats captured in our study included three adult females and seven juveniles. All of these individuals were captured in openings of the cottonwood-sycamore (Populus deltoides~Platanus occidentalis) and pecan-sugarberry (Carya illinoensis-Celtis laevigata) floodplain forests along the Missouri River. The other individual (MWSU 22086) represents the first record of an adult male evening bat for Kansas (Jones et al. 1967, Sparks and Choate 2000). The adult male was captured in oak-hickory (Quercus alba-Carya ovata) upland forest; northing 0334200, easting 4358631.