Kozlov's Long-eared Bat

About this species

Habitat

Steppe-desert and semi-desert

Range

Western and southern Mongolia and adjacent China

Kozlov's long-eared bat is a Central Asian vesper bat whose very large ears place it in Plecotus. It was described in 1926, later merged with the grey long-eared bat, and restored as a species after genetic and morphological study in 2006. Subsequent genetic work on Mongolian long-eared bats has upheld that separation, making name and locality important when interpreting older records. (Spitzenberger et al. 2006; Kruskop et al. 2020)

The species is centred on western and southern Mongolia and adjoining Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, and the Qaidam Basin of China. It is strongly associated with semi-desert, especially steppe-desert, and is thought to roost in cliff and rock crevices. Those habitat and distribution data are species-specific, but the opened account did not provide dependable measurements, diet, reproductive timing, or a named Mongolian viewing site. (Wikipedia, general species account; Kruskop et al. 2020)

Description: Wildlife of Mongolia guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com); general species information paraphrased from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)