The Pond Bat is a species of vesper bat

Vesper bat

Vesper bats , also known as Evening bats or Common bats, are the largest and best-known family of bats. They belong to the suborder Microchiroptera . There are over three hundred species distributed all over the world, on every continent except Antarctica...

 in the Vespertilionidae family. It is found in Eurasia from France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 to Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 and Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

.

Physical characteristics

The bat is medium sized, with a noticeally short tragus for a species in the Myotis genus. Fur is thick and black-brown at the base, with brownish or yellowish-grey fur on the dorsal side and white-grey or yellow-grey fur on the ventral side.

Status

The species is world endangered, with a large decline in numbers in the west of range; many nursery sites in the Netherlands have been lost.

Habitat

In the summer this species nests in lowland regions with areas of water, meadows and woods, with winter roosts also occurring in the foothills of mountains. The record for the altitutude of a M. dasycneme roost is 1000 meters above sea level, with winter roosts not normally occurring more than 300 meters above sea level. Summer roosts are mostly in roof spaces or church towers, with individuals sometimes found nesting in hollow trees.

Reproduction

Females reach sexual maturity in the second year. The mating season is from the end of August, with nursery roosts then becoming occupied the following may with 40-400 females, although rarely any males. The maximum recorded age is 19 years.

Hunting

Members of this species emerge to hunt in late dusk, with either 1 or 2 foraging periods in evening and early morning. Hunting occurs over water, meadows and along woodland edges, with rapid, skillful flight (sometimes only 5-10 cm above water). Prey includes gnats, mosquitoes, moths and insects caught from the surface of the water.

Echolocation

Echolocation is done with FM singles between 60 and 24 kHz, with a 5-8 millisecond duration. The call sequence occurs every 115 milliseconds on average, with approximately 8-10 signals per second. Signal range is between 5 and 20 meters.