Mammals of the WorldEurasian Serotine
Cnephaeus serotinus
- Order
- Chiroptera
- Family
- Vespertilionidae
- Genus
- Cnephaeus
- IUCN status
- LC
- Distribution
- United Kingdom|Portugal|Spain|France|Belgium|Netherlands|Luxembourg|Germany|Denmark|Sweden|Switzerland|Liechtenstein|Italy|Austria|Czech Republic|Poland|Slovakia|Hungary|Slovenia|Croatia|Bosnia and Herzegovina|Serbia|Kosovo|Montenegro|Albania|North Macedonia|Greece|Bulgaria|Romania|Moldova|Ukraine|Belarus|Lithuania|Latvia|Russia|Georgia|Armenia|Azerbaijan|Turkey|Cyprus|Syria|Lebanon|Israel|Iran|Kazakhstan|Uzbekistan|Turkmenistan|Kyrgyzstan|Tajikistan|Afghanistan|China
- Realm
- Palearctic
Other names: Big Brown Bat|Common Serotine Bat|European Serotine Bat|Silky Bat
About this species
- Size
- 58–80mm
- Weight
- 15–35g
- Diet
- Large flying insects, especially beetles
- Habitat
- Woodland edges, pasture, parks, and settlements
- Range
- Europe and western to central Asia
The Eurasian serotine is a large bat with broad wings, quite large triangular ears, a dark face, and dark wing membranes. Its back varies from dark brown to yellow-brown and the underside is paler. Head-and-body length is about 58–80mm, wingspan 320–380mm, and weight 15–35g. Its very broad wings and characteristically slow, highly manoeuvrable flight with short glides are useful field characters. (Bat Conservation Trust)
Serotines commonly hunt along woodland edges, pasture, parks, and around buildings, taking large flying insects and often chewing beetles in flight. They may forage mostly within two kilometres of a roost but can travel farther. Summer roosts are frequently in buildings, either singly or in small groups, and the species can share structures with other bats. Mongolia-specific ecology was not described in the opened account. (Bat Conservation Trust; Wikipedia, general species account)
Description: Wildlife of Mongolia guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com); general species information paraphrased from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)