NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Gray Long-eared Bat
Plecotus austriacus (J. Fischer, 1829)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The grey long-eared bat (Plecotus austriacus) is a fairly large European bat. It has distinctive ears, long and with a distinctive fold. It hunts above woodland, often by day, and mostly for moths. In captivity, it has also been recorded to eat small lizards. It is extremely similar to the more common brown long-eared bat, and was only distinguished in the 1960s, but has a paler belly.
Wikipedia contributors, Grey long-eared bat; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:16:42.348251+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Plecotus austriacus (J. Fischer, 1829)
- Name authority
- (J. Fischer, 1829)
- Common name
- Gray Long-eared Bat
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Chiroptera
- Family
- Vespertilionidae
- Genus
- Plecotus
- 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.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
- subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
- infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
- orderChiroptera Blumenbach, 1779
- suborderYangochiroptera Koopman, 1984
- superfamilyVespertilionoidea Gray, 1821
- familyVespertilionidae Gray, 1821
- subfamilyVespertilioninae Gray, 1821
- tribePlecotini Gray, 1866
- genusPlecotus E. Geoffroy, 1818
- speciesPlecotus austriacus (J. Fischer, 1829)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Plecotus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Himalayan Long-eared BatPlecotus homochrous Hodgson, 1847 | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Alpine Long-eared BatPlecotus macrobullaris Kuzyakin, 1965 | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Ognev's Long-eared BatPlecotus ognevi Kishida, 1927 | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Japanese Long-eared BatPlecotus sacrimontis G. M. Allen, 1908 | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Strelkov's Long-eared BatPlecotus strelkovi Spitzenberger, 2006 | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Formosan Long-eared BatPlecotus taivanus Yoshiyuki, 1991 | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Canary Long-eared BatPlecotus teneriffae Barrett-Hamilton, 1907 | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Gaisler's Big-eared BatPlecotus gaisleri Benda, Kiefer, Hanak & Veith, 2004 | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Brown Long-eared BatPlecotus auritus (Linnaeus, 1758) | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Bale Long-eared BatPlecotus balensis Kruskop & Lavrenchenko, 2000 | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Balkan Long-eared BatPlecotus kolombatovici Dulic, 1980 | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Kozlov's Long-eared BatPlecotus kozlovi Bobrinskii, 1926 | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Plecotus austriacus austriacus (J. Fischer, 1829) (J. Fischer, 1829) | synonym |
| Vespertilio auritus austriacus J. Fischer, 1829 J. Fischer, 1829 | synonym |
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.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=632134 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. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
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:6W36Q. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.