California leaf-nosed bat

The California leaf-nosed bat (Macrotus californicus) is a species of bat in the family Phyllostomidae, found in Mexico and the United States, where its natural habitat is hot desert. It lives in Sonoran and Mojave Desert scrub in the Colorado River valley of southern California, Nevada and Arizona and throughout western Mexico, and it neither migrates nor hibernates. It weighs 12 to 20 grams, has a wingspan of over 30 centimetres, is brown, and has a triangular noseleaf above the nose; it is the only phyllostomid bat in the United States with large ears, usually over 2.5 centimetres. Its short, broad wings suit slow and highly manoeuvrable flight and hovering. It is a gleaning insectivore that picks crickets, grasshoppers, beetles and sphinx moths from the ground or foliage, hunting mostly by sight and switching to echolocation in total darkness. It roosts by day in caves, deserted mine tunnels and grottos, so disturbance of its roosts, especially in summer while young are being reared, and the reclamation of old mines are major threats.