biology

Lesser mouse-eared bat

Lesser mouse-eared bat is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Lesser mouse-eared bat rather than just read about it. In short: The lesser mouse-eared bat or lesser mouse-eared myotis (Myotis blythii) is a species of insectivorous bat in the family Vespertilionidae. This species has a wide distribution from the Iberian Peninsula to China.

Key takeaways

Lesser mouse-eared bat belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Lesser mouse-eared bat to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Lesser mouse-eared bat from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The lesser mouse-eared bat or lesser mouse-eared myotis (Myotis blythii) is a species of insectivorous bat in the family Vespertilionidae. This species has a wide distribution from the Iberian Peninsula to China.

Taxonomy The lesser mouse-eared bat has a complex taxonomic history. The oldest name is Vespertilio blythii which was given to a single specimen in the British Museum (Natural History) which was labelled "India" by Robert F. Tomes in 1857. In 1885 Francesco Saverio Monticelli described Vespertilio oxygnathus from Italy. Subsequent studies found very little morphological difference between Tomes's taxon in India and the European bats described by Moniticelli and so they were synonymised. Further studies found that the populations found between Europe and India, in Asia Minor, were larger, approaching the greater mouse-eard bat in size and these were named as the subspecies M. blythii omari with a fourth, isolated subspecies being described from southern Siberia and northern China, M. blythii ancilla.

Distribution Lesser mouse-eared bats can be found in the following countries: Afghanistan, Albania, Austria, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Mongolia, Pakistan, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Cyprus, Spain, Switzerland, Syria, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine.

Threats The species is decreasing in population due to the pollution and changes in land management. Construction noise has disturbed populations in southern Spain; the population in Andalusia decreased from 30,000 to 14,000 between 1994 and 2002. Herders in Syria and Turkey light fires at cave mouths for their livestock disturbing the bats.

Conservation It is protected in most of Europe by Bonn and Berne Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats. The species requires special measures including construction of designated areas, which are provided by Special Areas for Conservation. Natura 2000 is also protecting the species. In some European countries, the caves are closed with fences so that visitors do not disturb them.

Characteristics The lesser mouse-eared bat is a relatively large Myotis bat, it closely resembles the greater mouse-eared bat. The back is tinged with brownish, the belly is pale greyish-white, typically rather paler than the belly of the greater mouse-eared bat. The snout is markedly shorter than that of the greater mouse-eared bat, the ears comparatively narrow and short, and the front margin of the ears are noticeably less convex. The tragus has a pale tip, with no dark spot at its end. The measurements of this bat are: the forearm is between 50.5 and 62.1 mm (1.99 and 2.44 in) in length; the fifth finger is 63 to 81 mm (2.5 to 3.2 in) long and the third finger is 85 to 103 mm (3.3 to 4.1 in) long; the wight varies between 19 and 26 g (0.67 and 0.92 oz).

References

External links Images at www.naturlichter.de Media related to Myotis blythii at Wikimedia Commons

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lesser mouse-eared bat

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lesser mouse-eared bat claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Lesser mouse-eared bat before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Lesser mouse-eared bat ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Lesser mouse-eared bat

In research: Lesser mouse-eared bat appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Lesser mouse-eared bat in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Lesser mouse-eared bat is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Bats of Asia, Bats of Europe, Habitats Directive species, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Lesser mouse-eared bat outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Lesser mouse-eared bat in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Lesser mouse-eared bat means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Lesser mouse-eared bat out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lesser mouse-eared bat in simple terms?

Why does Lesser mouse-eared bat matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Lesser mouse-eared bat?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Lesser mouse-eared bat.