Eptesicus fuscus

The big brown bat is a species of vesper bat distributed widely throughout North America, the Caribbean, and the northern portion of South America. It was first described as a species in 1796. Compared to other microbats, the big brown bat is relatively large, weighing 15–26 g (0.53–0.92 oz) and possessing a wingspan of 32.5–35 cm (12.8–13.8 in).

Eptesicus fuscus

John MacGregor (Land Between the Lakes KY/TN) · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
big brown batPBDB
Sits inside
EptesicusPBDB
Diet
omnivorePBDB, for Vespertilionidae
Life habit
volantPBDB, for Chiroptera
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Chiroptera
Mass
3.3 gWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 1.3 million years on record.

The record covers at least 1.4 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 4.7 Mya to 0 Mya.

Pliocene — about 1 of 43 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 36 of 43 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 6 of 43 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.3–4.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.2–4.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.0–3.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.8–3.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.6–3.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.9–2.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.8–2.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.6–2.4 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences2.4–2.3 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.9–1.7 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.7–1.6 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.2–1.0 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.0–867 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence867 ka–693 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence693 ka–520 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence520 ka–347 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence347 ka–173 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence173 ka–0 Mya — about 30 occurrences1.4 Mya11.7 ka5.2 Mya0 Mya

43 occurrences of Eptesicus fuscus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

43 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

1 formation

Seymour — 33.80°N, 99.70°W

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The named rock units Eptesicus fuscus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 42 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Eptesicus fuscus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Eptesicus fuscus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

834 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 42 sites for Eptesicus fuscus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

31 references

Each of the 43 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 19 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Eptesicus fuscus

Credit
John MacGregor (Land Between the Lakes KY/TN)
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itEptesicus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Beauvois 1796)