Photo Credit: Will Seiter
Indiana Myotis
Myotis sodalis
Call characteristics:
High frequency caller (~40 kHz range)
Body Length
2.75 - 3.6 in
(7.1 - 9.1 cm)
Weight
1/8 - 3/8 oz
(5 - 11 g)
The Indiana Myotis is a medium sized bat with longer ears and a short face. Its fur ranges from grayish to chestnut, with dull-lead colored fur at the base of the hairs and pinkish-cinnamon fur underneath the body. The Indiana Myotis diet includes a variety of aerial insects. During summer, the Indiana Myotis roosts beneath the exfoliating bark of dead trees, commonly known as snags. During winter, the species prefers to hibernate in cold sites, often limestone caves containing pools of water.
The Indiana Myotis was one of the first bat species to be listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Despite measures to protect the species' winter hibernacula, populations continue to decline, due partly to its susceptibility to the fungal disease white-nose syndrome, which impacts winter populations, as well as threats like pesticide use and deforestation which limit suitable summer habitat.
Conservation Status
Range
There are various sources for bat species range maps including IUCN, NatureServe, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ECOS, and the National Atlas of the United States (left).
Photo Credit: Dane Smith
Status
&
Trends
NABat utilizes monitoring data provided by a broad network of partners to support regional and range-wide inferences about changes in the distributions and abundances of bat populations facing current and emerging threats.
Information used to populate this page was obtained from the following sources:
United States Fish and Wildlife Service Environmental Conservation Online System
Bat Conservation International Bat Profiles
National Atlas of the United States. (2011). North American Bat Ranges, 1830-2008. National Atlas of the United States. Available at: http://purl.stanford.edu/pz329xp4277.
Taylor, M. 2019. Bats: an illustrated guide to all species. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books.