Bat Identification Quiz

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Test your knowledge!

1. While mist netting, your colleague comes up to you and shows you two bats that he just removed from a net. He rather unexcitedly tells you that he caught two of the same species, nothing too exciting. While taking a closer look at the two bats side-by-side yourself, you’re not too sure. One bat is a bright orange color, and the other has a noticeably darker mahogany-colored face and looks like it has just returned from the hair salon with frosted-tips. They are roughly the same weight, have similar forearm measurements, and have white spots on the wrists. Is he right?

1 point

A. Yes, they are both red bats (Lasiurus borealis)! They just look different because male and female red bats have different fur color.

B. Yes, but you’re not sure why. You trust your colleagues ID, even if he manages to get himself tangled in the mist nets when he sets them up

C. No, they are different species of bat! One is a red bat (Lasiurus borealis) while the other is a Seminole bat (Lasiurus seminolus).

D. No, they are different species of bat! One is a Seminole bat (Lasiurus seminolus), while the other is a yellow bat (Lasiurus intermedius) that is a bit on the small side.

Clear selection

2. You are crawling through a culvert. It is the end of a long day, you didn’t pack enough lunch, and your waders are starting to leak. Near the end of the culvert, you look up and see a bunch of bats. It is also your job to survey culverts for bats, so that is a good thing! Since you are tired, you are struggling to ID the bats you found. You notice that they are all medium-sized bats (all roughly 80 to 90 mm in length from head to tail), they all have relatively smooth, glossy hair, and butter knife-shaped tragis. However, some of the bats are a dull brown, while others are bright orange. What species are they, and are they all the same species or not?

1 point

A. The darker ones are probably evening bats (Nycticeius humeralis) and the more orange ones are southeastern myotis (Myotis austroriparius).

B. They are all tricolored bats (Perimyotis subflavus). They can have different color morphs, hence the name tricolored!

C. They are a mix of southeastern myotis (Myotis austroriparius) and tricolored bats (Perimyotis subflavus). The darker ones are southeastern myotis, and the lighter orange ones are tricolors.

D. They are all southeastern myotis (Myotis austroriparius). They can have different color morphs.

Clear selection

3. You are doing some mist netting in Jackson county, Florida. The site you selected is on a very nice creek, and you know that there are some caves nearby. You catch this bat and know that it is a Myotis of some kind. This bat has forearms that measure 38mm, and you notice that the wing membrane attaches to the base of its toes. How significant is this bat?

1 point

A. Very significant

B. Not significant, but it is a bat and bats are cool

Clear selection

4. You are doing some mist netting in Jackson county, Florida. The site you selected is on a very nice creek, and you know that there are some caves nearby. In fact, this is the same mist net site that you were netting in question 3! You catch this bat and know that it is a Myotis of some kind. This bat has massive forearms (46mm) and you notice that the wing membrane attaches to its ankle, not the base of its toes. How significant is this bat?

1 point

A. Very significant

B. Not significant, but it is a bat and bats are cool

Clear selection

5. You are doing some yardwork one weekend. You notice that one of your palm trees is not doing so great and has several dead fronds. You grab some loppers and start removing the dead fronds. Suddenly, a large bat flies out from the dead fronds in the middle of your trimming. Oh my! What bat was it most likely?

1 point

A. Red bat, Lasiurus borealis

B. Yellow bat, Lasiurus intermedius

C. Gray bat, Myotis grisescens

D. Big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus

Clear selection

6. You find a solitary bat roosting in a bridge. Its relatively large for a Florida bat, brown, and impressively you can tell that its tail is fully enclosed by membrane. It has a broad U-shaped face with relatively short ears, and its tragus is rounded. What species of bat is this?

1 point

A. Big brown, Eptesicus fuscus

B. Rafinesque's Big-eared, Corynorhinus rafinesquii

C. Little brown, Myotis lucifugus

D. Brazilian Free-tailed, Tadarida brasiliensis

Clear selection

7. After the excitement of finding a bat, you decide to survey the rest of the bridge from question 6. Walking along, you find a rather large pile of guano (a couple of cubic feet worth!) and notice there is heavy staining around a joint of the bridge. Looking up, you can see upwards of 200 hundred bats! They are different from the bat you saw in the bridge earlier, and are all a dull brown-grey, have noticeably large and rounded ears, and you can tell that their tail extends past the tail membrane by several millimeters. What species of bats are these?

1 point

A. Big brown, Eptesicus fuscus

B. Rafinesque's Big-eared, Corynorhinus rafinesquii

C. Little brown, Myotis lucifugus

D. Brazilian Free-tailed, Tadarida brasiliensis

Clear selection

8. You find a small bat hiding in a crevice. All you can see is that it has rounded pinkish ears, a short blunt triangular tragus, and fur that looks frazzled, rather than smooth. What species of bat is this?

1 point

Southeastern myotis, Myotis austroriparius

Tri-colored bat, Perimyotis subflavus

Evening bat, Nycticieus humeralis

Big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus

Clear selection

9. While netting in northern Florida, you catch a large bat with silver fur. The forearm is 51 mm. One of your colleagues is excitedly talking about getting to see a silver-haired bat. Has this person correctly IDed the species?

1 point

Yes, this is a silver-haired bat

No, this a hoary bat

No, this is an old red bat

Clear selection

10. While netting, you catch a glossy brown bat with black forearms, black rounded ears, and a blunt tragus. It looks just like several big brown bats that you caught earlier in the night, but seems smaller. You take a forearm measurement and it is 35 mm. What have you caught?

1 point

Juvenile big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus

Southeastern myotis, Myotis austroriparius

Little brown bat, Myotis lucifugs

Evening bat, Nycticieus humeralis

Clear selection

11. You're out mist netting at Avon Park when you catch a rather large bat with an unusual white spot on it's belly and you notice it has ears that are joined at the base. What did you catch?

1 point

Velvety free-tailed bat, Molossus molossus

Spotted bat, Euderma maculatum

Brazilian free-tailed bat, Tadarida brasiliensis

Florida bonneted bat, Eumops floridanus

Clear selection

12. You are doing a cave survey at one of Florida's biggest hibernacula when you stumble across this torpid bat covered in dew. What did you find?

1 point

Tri-colored bat, Perimyotis subflavus

Northern long-eared bat, Myotis septentrionalis

Rafinesque's big-eared bat, Corynorhinus rafinesquii

Brazilian free-tailed bat, Tadarida brasiliensis

Clear selection

13. You are a Florida Bat Working Group member participating in the mist netting event at the Withlacoochee Training Center when you catch this adorable bat with a furry tail membrane with white spots on the shoulder and by the thumb. What did you catch?

1 point

Yellow bat, Lasiurus intermedius

Red bat, Lasiurus borealis

Seminole bat, Lasiurus seminolus

Silver-haired bat, Lasionycteris noctivagans

Clear selection

14. You are mist netting near a bat house in Key Largo when you catch this cool bat. It has ears joined at the base and a forearm measurement 38 mm. What did you catch?

1 point

Florida bonneted bat, Eumops floridanus

Brazilian free-tailed bat, Tadarida brasiliensis

Velvety free-tailed bat, Molossus molussus

Big brown bat, Eptisicus fuscus

Clear selection

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