- Scientific Name
- Myotis lucifugus
- Family
- Vespertilionidae
- Region
- Northwest Territories, Utah, South Carolina, Michigan, Nova Scotia, Alabama, Tennessee, Minnesota, Ontario, Arkansas, Idaho, New Hampshire, Prince Edward Island, Georgia, Washington, New Jersey, Quebec, Illinois, Wyoming, New York, Saskatchewan, Indiana, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Yukon, Iowa, West Virginia, Rhode Island, North America, Kansas, Maryland, Vermont, USA, Kentucky, Montana, Wisconsin, Florida, Louisiana, North Dakota, Alaska, Canada, Arizona, Mississippi, South Dakota, Alberta, California, Missouri, Connecticut, British Columbia, Nevada, Nebraska, Delaware, Manitoba, Texas, North Carolina, District of Columbia, New Brunswick, Colorado, Ohio, Maine, Newfoundland, Oklahoma, Oregon, Massachusetts
Pronunciation: my-oh-tis loo-ciff-a-guss
The Little Brown Myotis is abundant throughout forested areas of the U.S. as far north as Alaska. It ranges from Alaska to Labrador and Newfoundland (Canada), south to southern California, northern Arizona, and northern New Mexico. In the West, it is found mainly in mountainous and riparian areas in a wide variety of forest habitats including tree-lined xeric-scrub to aspen meadows to Pacific Northwest coniferous rain forests. This species is especially associated with humans, often forming nursery colonies containing hundreds, sometimes thousands, of individuals in buildings, attics, and other man-made structures.
In addition to day roosts in tree cavities and crevices, Little Brown Myotis seem quite dependent upon roosts which provide safe havens from predators that are close to foraging grounds. Little Brown Myotis forage over water where their diet consists of aquatic insects — mainly mayflies, midges, mosquitoes, and caddisflies. They also feed over forest trails, cliff faces, meadows, and farmland where they consume a wide variety of insects — mainly beetles, crane flies, and moths. Individuals can catch up to 1,200 insects in just one hour during peak feeding activity.