Serotine bat

Description

The serotine bats are characterised by a black-brown to black face, dark ears and patagium. The dorsal fur colouration varies from light smoky brown to dark blackish brown. The belly fur is slightly lighter and often yellowish brown.

With a snout-vent length between 6 and 8 cm, broad-winged bats belong to the larger European bat species. They have a wingspan of 32 to 38 cm and weigh between 14 and 35 g. They are called broad-winged bats because of their broad wings.

This species owes its name to its broad rounded wings, which make its flight silhouette characteristic and enable it to be distinguished from other species such as the noctule bats.

Habitat

Serotine bat groups have up to several dozen roosts. These are changed frequently, with the optimal temperature of the roost playing a major role. Other factors are disturbance and probably droppings and parasites.

The serotine bat prefers warm crevices on and in buildings as summer habitats. These roosts may be located behind façade cladding, gutters, attics or similar.

Adult males are often found alone or in small groups in roosts. Females are usually found in the company of other females in groups of up to a few dozen. The young are usually born and nursed in the company of other females in so-called nursery roosts. When changing roosts, the bat offspring cling to their mothers. In the known large bat hibernacula (e.g. cellars, bunkers or attics), where for example Daubenton's bats (Myotis daubentonii) or noctule bats (Nyctalus) hibernate, only single or few serotine bats are found. Little is known about the winter habitats of broad-winged bats. There are indications that some summer habitats are also used for hibernation.

The serotine bat is a dispersing species. It does not undertake long migrations.

They start hunting at dusk 20-30 minutes after sunset when they leave their roosts. The bats can cover a distance of up to 8 km to their hunting grounds on individual routes. They fly slowly (15 km/h) and at a height of 3-5 m. They often hunt in groups. They often hunt in groups, the hunting grounds include gardens, forest edges, street lamps, meadows, large individual trees or even bodies of water.

The text is a translation of an excerpt from Wikipedia (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breitflügelfledermaus). On wikipedia the text is available under a „Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike“ licence. Status 09 August 2021