Animalia > Chordata > Mammalia > Chiroptera > Vespertilionidae > Nyctalus > Nyctalus lasiopterus

Nyctalus lasiopterus (giant noctule)

Synonyms: Nyctalus maximus; Nyctalus sicula; Vespertilio lasiopterus; Vespertiloi lasiopterus (homotypic)

Wikipedia Abstract

The greater noctule bat (Nyctalus lasiopterus) is a rare bat found in Europe, West Asia, and North Africa. It is the largest and least studied bat in Europe with a wingspan of up to 46 centimetres (18 in) and is one of the few bat species to feed on passerine birds. Greater noctule bats are the only bat species to hunt birds on the wing rather than when roosting. The greater noctule bat has wings adapted for open-air hunting and uses echolocation frequencies above the hearing range of birds.
View Wikipedia Record: Nyctalus lasiopterus

Endangered Species

Status: Vulnerable
View IUCN Record: Nyctalus lasiopterus

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
1
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
25
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 4.37
EDGE Score: 2.37
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  49.7 grams
Birth Weight [2]  6 grams
Diet [3]  Carnivore (Invertebrates)
Diet - Invertibrates [3]  100 %
Forages - Aerial [3]  100 %
Litter Size [2]  2
Nocturnal [3]  Yes

Ecoregions

Protected Areas

Biodiversity Hotspots

Name Location Endemic Species Website
Caucasus Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Russia, Turkey No
Irano-Anatolian Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Turkmenistan No
Mediterranean Basin Algeria, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Portugal, Spain, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey No

Prey / Diet

Cyanistes caeruleus (Blue Tit)[4]
Erithacus rubecula (European Robin)[4]

Prey / Diet Overlap

Competing SpeciesCommon Prey Count
Accipiter nisus (Eurasian Sparrowhawk)1
Aegolius funereus (Boreal Owl)1
Dendrocopos major (Great Spotted Woodpecker)1
Falco eleonorae (Eleonora's Falcon)1
Strix aluco (Tawny Owl)1

Consumers

Range Map

External References

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Felisa A. Smith, S. Kathleen Lyons, S. K. Morgan Ernest, Kate E. Jones, Dawn M. Kaufman, Tamar Dayan, Pablo A. Marquet, James H. Brown, and John P. Haskell. 2003. Body mass of late Quaternary mammals. Ecology 84:3403
♦ 2Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 3Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
♦ 4Carnivory in the greater noctule bat (Nyctalus lasiopterus) in Italy, G Dondini, S Vergari, J. Zool. Lond. (2000) 251, 233-236
♦ 5Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
♦ 6International Flea Database
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0