Atlas der Säugetiere Nordrhein-Westfalens

Alpenfledermaus

1 entries

Savi′s pipistrelle

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  entry

Hypsugo savii

With a forearm length of 31 to 38 mm, Savi′s Pipistrelle belongs to the smallest bat species of Europe, and resembles the Common Pipistrelle with its blackish, round ears and a very dark face and wing membranes. They have a grey-white underside, which contrasts clearly against their dark brown back. Characters of the teeth and the shape of the male′s penis enable unequivocal species identification.
Savi′s Pipistrelle is less of a species of the Alps, even though it was recorded there up to an elevation of 2000 m, but rather more a species of the Mediterranean region. It is a typical species of the regions′ Karst areas. This region′s characteristic shrub flora and interspersed, extensively utilized agricultural areas are quite suitable for this species. In parts of its distributional area — for example, in Italy — Savi′s Pipistrelle can be a common city dweller. It roosts year-round and uses crevice-shaped hiding places, preferably in rocks and in walls, to do so. Savi′s Pipistrelles are flexible hunters, which can be observed at very different elevations, hunting a great variety of insect species. Since the 1990s, Savi′s Pipistrelle, including their nursery colonies, has been recorded north of the Alps more and more frequently. Perhaps there is a connection between the emerging tendency to spread northwards and isolated records of this species in central Europe and Great Britain.
There are also two recent reports of this species from North Rhine-Westphalia. Whereas one case is the discovery of a male Savi′s Pipistrelle in Dortmund, the second observation is based on bat detector-evidence from Wuppertal. Since these records are far from the actual area of distribution, they could result from translocations caused by humans; even exotic species have gotten into Central Europe this way. Because a mere bat-detector was used, caution must be applied when accepting records of these rare instances.

Author

Henning Vierhaus

Citation

Vierhaus H (2024): Alpenfledermaus (Hypsugo_savii).In: AG Säugetierkunde NRW — Online-Atlas of the mammals of North Rhine-Westphalia. Downloaded from saeugeratlas-nrw.lwl.org on 2024/12/03