Western Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus hesperus)
Order: Chiroptera, Family: Vespertilionidae
A small, drab-gray or smoke-gray bat with distinct, black, leathery facial mask and black membranes; tragus short, blunt, and slightly curved; underparts pale smoke-gray. Dental formula: I 2/3, C 1/1, Pm 2/2, M 3/3 X 2 = 34. External measurements average: (males), total length, 66 mm; tail, 27 mm; foot, 5 mm; forearm, 28 mm; (females), 73-30-5-28. Weight, 3-6 g.
Habits. This bat is associated chiefly with rocky situations along watercourses. Its daytime retreat is in the cracks and crevices of canyon walls or cliffs, under loose rocks, or in caves.
These are among the most diurnal of bats, beginning their foraging flights very early in the evening and often remaining active throughout the early morning hours. Pipistrelles are slow bats and may be distinguished on the wing by their slow, fluttery flight which is restricted to small foraging circuits. Occasionally, individual bats have been observed on the wing during mid-day, during which time they water to alleviate stress caused by the arid environment they inhabit.
Western pipistrelles forage from 2 to 15 m above ground on small, swarming insects and consume about 20% of their body weight in insects per feeding. Specific prey items include caddisflies, stoneflies, moths, small beetles, leaf and stilt bugs, leafhoppers, flies, mosquitoes, ants, and wasps. Stomach contents of individual bats often contain only a single species of insect, or if more than one species is present the remains are clumped together within the stomach, suggesting that they take advantage of swarming insects and feed intensively within such swarms.
The young, numbering one or two (usually two), are born in June and July after a gestation period of approximately 40 days. Maternity colonies may be established in buildings or rock crevices. The newborn bats weigh slightly less than 1 g at birth but grow rapidly. By August they can fly and are difficult to distinguish from adults.
The Mammals of Texas - Online Edition
Related Content
 Coming from Spain, this breed arrived in the US via the Caribbean Islands. Spanish are the oldest breed of chickens existent in the US today. At one time known as "The Fowls of Seville", they were very popular in the South during the Colonial period. The large area of snow white skin surrounding the face and wattles makes this breed unique. Actually this is an over developed earlobe.
|
 by David Rennie An army of 700,000 specially trained ducks and chickens has been mobilised to help fight China's biggest locust plague in 25 years. The birds, which are taught to pursue and eat locusts at the sound of a whistle, are part of a national campaign that includes 280,000 people backed by crop-dusting planes and special locust-killing micro-organisms imported from Britain. Swarms of locusts have d...
|
 Order: Passeriformes, Family: Corvidae Nearctic: Breeding range: The Gray Jay is found from tree line in northern Canada and Alaska south through boreal and subalpine forests to northern California on the west coast, Arizona and New Mexico in the Rocky Mountains, northern Wisconsin in the midwest, and New York in the east.
Winter range: The non-breeding range is essentially the same as the breeding range, as the Gray Jay does not mig...
|
 Order: Falconiformes, Family: Accipitridae The common black-hawk is found in the southwestern United States, throughout Mexico, Central America, and northern South America to Guyana. They can also be found in Cuba and The Isle of Pines.
Mass: 630 to 1,300 kg.
The common black-hawk averages 53 cm in length (21 inches) and has a wingspan of 127 cm (50 inches.) Like most other raptor species, common black-hawks are sexually dimorphic, wi...
|
 Order: Cuculiformes, Family: Opisthocomidae The hoatzin is pear-shaped with a bare face and shaggy crest.
It measures approximately 24 to 26 inches in length.
The hoatzin has blue skin covering its face, and red eyes; its outer feathers are primarily chestnut-brown, and it has a long, bronze-green tail ending in white. Its head is topped with reddish-brown crest feathers.
Young hoatzin are born without feathers, developing a layer ...
|
 Order: Psittaciformes, Family: Psittacids Hyacinth macaws grow to approximately 33 to 40 inches in length, and weigh about 3 pounds. Their wingspan measures 46 to 50 inches and their tail 21 inches.
The hyacinth has violet-blue plumage with a deeper shade on its wings. The underside of its wings and tail feathers are blackish-blue. It has a black beak and dark brown iris a with yellow circle of skin around the eyes. A yellow line lies...
|
|
(4.2)
Add Feedback