Common Big-eared Bat

Open encyclopedia reference

The common big-eared bat (Micronycteris microtis) is a bat species from South and Central America. It is a member of the family Phyllostomidae.

Recent research has demonstrated this bat's ability to find motionless food within clutter. Echolocating bats discriminate between background and prey based on glints or Doppler shifts in the echo induced by the (wing-)movements of the prey, but M. microtis can detect completely motionless prey. The species shares both the leaf-nose formation and the trait of sound emission through the nostrils with all Phyllostomidae, but its behavior is understood to be unique: the bat is able to discriminate ecologically relevant stimuli within an extremely complex cluttered sonic environment.

The echolocation call of M. microtis is a broad band multi-harmonic FM sweep with most energy in the second harmonic between 95 and 75 kHz, i.e. quite similar to that of Macrophyllum macrophyllum, although presumably of lower intensity.

M. microtis mothers will provide pups with prey items for 5 months after weaning.

Wikipedia contributors, Common big-eared bat; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:36:15.017654+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Micronycteris (Micronycteris) microtis Miller, 1898

Name authority

Miller, 1898

Common name

Common Big-eared Bat

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Chiroptera

Family

Phyllostomidae

Genus

Micronycteris

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
9. subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
10. infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
11. orderChiroptera Blumenbach, 1779
12. suborderYangochiroptera Koopman, 1984
13. superfamilyNoctilionoidea Gray, 1821
14. familyPhyllostomidae Gray, 1825
15. subfamilyMicronycterinae Van Den Bussche, 1992
16. genusMicronycteris Gray, 1866
17. subgenusMicronycteris Gray, 1866
18. speciesMicronycteris (Micronycteris) microtis Miller, 1898

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Micronycteris. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 183 records assigned to Phyllostomidae.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=946058 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:4326L. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.