Nyctinomops femorosacca, the Pocketed Free-tailed Bat, is a member of the Molossidae. It inhabits the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. The bat has been seen in southern Arizona, southern California, southeastern New Mexico, western Texas, and into Mexico to the state of Michoacan. (  http://www.nsrl.ttu.edu/tmot/nyctfemo.htm )

Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native )

occurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

Global Range: (20,000-2,500,000 square km (about 8000-1,000,000 square miles)) Southern California (Constantine 1998), central Arizona, southern New Mexico, and western Texas south to central Nuevo Leon and thence to Jalisco, Michoacan, and Guerrero in western Mexico; also Baja California; sea level to about 2250 m (Kumirai and Jones 1990).

The Pocketed Free-tailed Bat has a large broad head with grooved lips. The face has many stiff hairs with spoonlike tips. A tragus is present and the ears are thick and leathery. These ears are joined in the middle of the forehead. The length of the bat on average is approximately 112mm. The feet are 10mm, the tail is 46mm, the ears 23mm, and the forearms are 46mm. The nasals are located on the nasal protuberance and no nose leaf is present (Grzimek, 1990). The wings are long and narrow. The tail extends well beyond the edge of the uropatagium. The fur is short. A fold of skin stretches from the inner side of the femur to the middle of the tibia. Ths fold produces a pocket on the underside of the interfemoral membrane, which gives the animal its common name, the Pocketed Free-tailed Bat. The dental formula is 1/2, 1/1, 2/2, 3/3=30, with the incisors placed close together. (   http://www.nsrl.ttu.edu/tmot/nyctfemo.htm )

Range mass: 10 to 14 g.

Length: 10 cm

Weight: 15 grams

See Kumirai and Jones (1990) for a key to the species of Nyctinomops.

• Terrestrial

This species inhabits semiarid desertlands. Their roosts can be found in caves, tunnels, mines, and rock crevices. They have also been found hanging under the roof tiles of buildings. They are usually found in large colonies. (Vaughn, Ryan, Czaplewski, 1999)

Terrestrial Biomes: desert or dune ; chaparral

Comments: Usually associated with rugged canyons, high cliffs, and rock outcroppings. Roosts in rock crevices and caves during the day; may also roost in buildings or under roof tiles. Has been taken in desert shrubland, over waterhole surrounded by mixed tropical deciduous and thorn forest (Sonora, Mexico), in floodplains with much sycamore and mesquite, in areas adjacent to high cliffs, and in pine-oak forest at 2160 m (Feb. in Jalisco) (Kumirai and Jones 1990). Winter habits poorly known.

Non-Migrant: Yes. At least some populations of this species do not make significant seasonal migrations. Juvenile dispersal is not considered a migration.

Locally Migrant: Yes. At least some populations of this species make local extended movements (generally less than 200 km) at particular times of the year (e.g., to breeding or wintering grounds, to hibernation sites).

Locally Migrant: No. No populations of this species make annual migrations of over 200 km.

Apparently migratory in Texas (present June-August; no winter records) (Schmidly 1991).

This species of bat is strictly insectivorous. Peak activity for feeding occurs at two different times, at the beginning of the night, and again at the end. Like many bats, the Pocketed Free-tailed Bat uses echolocation to detect the presence of its prey. (Grzimek, 1990). They catch their food in mid-flight. They typically eat moths, crickets, flying ants, stinkbugs, froghoppers, and lacewings. (httm://www.nsrl.ttu.edu/tmot/nyctfemo.htm)

Comments: Insectivorous. Diet includes moths, (macro- and microlepidoterans), beetles, many other flying insects (Hymenoptera, Diptera, Hemiptera), and some terrestrial insects that may be captured near roost sites (Kumirai and Jones 1990).

Comments: Usually leaves daytime roosts in the evening, well after dark.

Females bear a single embryo. Young are born to the female in late June to early July. The gestation period is about 70 to 90 days. When young are born, they weigh 3-4 grams, or about 22% of the adult weight. (Grzimek, 1990) Data on the reproduction of this species is scarce.

Females appear to produce 1 young, late June and early July in Tucson, Arizona (Barbour and Davis 1969); nearly full-term fetus recorded in Arizona in mid-July (Hoffmeister 1986). Pregnant and lactating females have been captured in June and July in Texas (Schmidly 1977); flying young captured as early as early August. Lactation may continue until August or September Colonies usually of less than 100 individuals (Whitaker 1980).

The status of the Pocketed Free-tailed Bat is not known. They are undoubtedly being threatened by the habitat modification and pesticide dispersal by humans. (Grzimek, 1990) There are no conservation projects underway specifically for Nyctinomops femorosacca.

Temperate North American bats are now threatened by a fungal disease called “white-nose syndrome.” This disease has devastated eastern North American bat populations at hibernation sites since 2007. The fungus, Geomyces destructans, grows best in cold, humid conditions that are typical of many bat hibernacula. The fungus grows on, and in some cases invades, the bodies of hibernating bats and seems to result in disturbance from hibernation, causing a debilitating loss of important metabolic resources and mass deaths. Mortality rates at some hibernation sites have been as high as 90%. While there are currently no reports of Nyctinomops femorosaccus mortalities as a result of white-nose syndrome, the disease continues to expand its range in North America.

US Federal List: no special status

CITES: no special status

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N3 - Vulnerable

Rounded Global Status Rank: G4 - Apparently Secure

Reasons: Fairly common throughout large range in southwestern U.S. and northern and western Mexico.

Degree of Threat: C : Not very threatened throughout its range, communities often provide natural resources that when exploited alter the composition and structure over the short-term, or communities are self-protecting because they are unsuitable for other uses

Comments: Potential threats include pesticides and human disturbance and destruction of roosting sites.

Global Protection: None. No occurrences appropriately protected and managed

They are insectivorous and play a part in controlling many of the pesky insects that destroy plants and crops.