Food habits of Rafinesque's big-eared bat in southeastern Kentucky

Abstract

The diet of Rafinesque's big-eared bat (Corynorhinus rafinesquii) was determined from 94 fecal pellets and 86 culled wings of moths collected from four roosts and five feeding shelters in southeastern Kentucky. Seven orders of insects were consumed, with Lepidoptera occurring at >90% volume and 100% frequency in all samples, suggesting that C. rafinesquii is a moth-specialist. Five families and seven species of moths were identified from culled wings. The average wingspan for the species of moths was 45.4 mm (SD = 8.4). This and other studies suggest that Corynorhinus preys primarily upon moths ranging in size from 31 to 57 min.