Atlas der Säugetiere Nordrhein-Westfalens

Teichfledermaus

694 entries

Pond bat

Rote Liste NRW: G Gefährdung unbekannten Ausmaßes

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Myotis dasycneme

Just like the Daubenton′s Bat, the Pond Bat preferably hunts in wide arches over the water, but with a forearm length of 43-49mm and a weight of 14 to 20 g; it is noticeably larger than Daubenton′s Bat. Characteristic for these two species are the strikingly large feet. The moderately large ears and the snout are flesh-coloured. The Pond Bat uses echolocation calls, which decrease from 65-85 kHz to 25-25 kHz. Often there are also lower-frequency calls (around 35 kHz), which create the impression of the so-called quail calls.
During the hunt over water bodies, the Pond Bats capture predominantly chironomids and caddis flies, but also representatives of other insect groups depending on the season. Insects are commonly picked up directly from the water′s surface with the help of the feet and the tail membrane.
The distributional range of the Pond Bat reaches from Northern France across the European Lowlands and Scandinavia to Eastern Europe, Russia and the Far East. Here we find their nursery colonies in especially water-rich landscapes, which means that the individual occurrences do not have to be in contact with each other.
Males and females of the Pond Bat, during the summer, use separate roosting and hunting areas, whereby the females are commonly encountered in the more suitable habitats. In the summer, the nursery colonies of the Pond Bat are mostly found in buildings, and here in attics, in roof insulations, and hollow walls.
For hibernation, Pond Bats retreat into subterranean roosts, like caves, mine shafts, wells and ice cellars.
In North-Rhine-Westphalia no nursery colonies are known. The nearest nursery colonies are located in Lower Saxony and in the Netherlands. Records of single Pond Bats are known from the whole northern NRW in addition to summer male roosts from Westphalia.
During their migration, Pond Bats cover distances of up to 300 km between the summer habitat in the Lowlands and the winter hibernacula in the hill country of the northern Germany. Important occurrences of hibernating Pond Bats are known from the northern and eastern Westphalia and the North of the Sauerland and the Eifel.
In NRW, the Pond Bat is registered as a threatened migrating species,

Author

Frauke Krüger

Citation

Krüger F (2025): Teichfledermaus (Myotis_dasycneme).In: AG Säugetierkunde NRW — Online-Atlas of the mammals of North Rhine-Westphalia. Downloaded from saeugeratlas-nrw.lwl.org on 2025/04/01