{{Short description|Species of bat}} {{Speciesbox | status = CR | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn">{{cite iucn |author=Russo, D. |author2=Cistrone, L. |year=2023 |title=''Plecotus teneriffae'' |article-number=e.T215482954A211021391 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2023-1.RLTS.T215482954A211021391.en}}</ref> | image = Murciélago Orejudo Canario - Aarón Rodríguez Díaz.jpg | taxon = Plecotus teneriffae | authority = Barret-Hamilton, 1907 | synonyms = | range_map = Plecotus teneriffae range Map.png | range_map_caption = Range of the Canary long-eared bat }} The '''Canary long-eared bat''' ('''''Plecotus teneriffae'''''), also known as the '''Canary big-eared bat''' or '''Tenerife long-eared bat''', is a species of vesper bat endemic to the Canary Islands.<ref name = MSW3>{{MSW3 Chiroptera | id = 13802172 | page = 483}}</ref> According to the IUCN, it is critically endangered.<ref name="iucn"/> It feeds mainly on moths. Roosting sites include caves, lava tubes and abandoned buildings.

==Taxonomy and etymology== It was described as a new species in 1907 by British mammalogist Gerald Edwin Hamilton Barrett-Hamilton. He described it based on specimens in the British Museum of Natural History. The holotype had been collected by R. Gomez in April 1887 near the town of La Orotava. "R. Gomez" was likely Ramon Gomez, a local pharmacist who traded in medicines, old coins, and biological specimens from the Canary Islands.<ref name="Lockyer 1887">{{cite book| editor1-last=Lockyer|editor1-first=Sir Norman | date=1887| title=Nature| volume=36| publisher=Macmillan Journals Limited| page=123| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=axsf4dgSHVUC&q=gomez+teneriffe+naturalist&pg=PR123}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| last=Samler Brown| first=A.| date=1908| title=Brown's Madeira, Canary Islands, and Azores, a Practical and Complete Guide for the Use of Tourists and Invalids: With Twenty Coloured Maps and Plans and Numerous Sectional and Other Diagrams| publisher=Sampson, Low, Marston| page=35| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Yw-AAAAYAAJ&q=ramon+gomez+teneriffe&pg=RA1-PA35}}</ref> Its species name "''teneriffae''" is derived from Tenerife, which is one of the islands of the Canary Islands and the place where the holotype was collected.<ref name="Hamilton 1907">{{cite journal|last=Barrett-Hamilton| first=G.E.H.| date=1907| title=LXXV.—Description of two new species of Plecotus| journal=The Annals and Magazine of Natural History: Including Zoology, Botany, and Geology| volume=20|issue=7|pages=520–521|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/26413773#page/558/mode/1up| doi=10.1080/00222930709487381}}</ref>

==Description== When Hamilton described it as a new species, he noted that it was similar in appearance to the brown long-eared bat, ''Plecotus auritus'', but that it had "much larger wings."<ref name="Hamilton 1907"/>

==Conservation== It is evaluated as critically endangered by the IUCN. It meets the criteria for this designation because its estimated area of occurrence is less than {{convert|3000|km2|mi2|abbr=on}}, it is found in fewer than five locations, its population is declining, and it is losing habitat. It is threatened by habitat loss due to deforestation, use of pesticides near forest habitat, and loss of roosting sites due to building renovation. The remaining population is estimated to number between 500 and 2000.<ref name="iucn" /> Only two breeding colonies, one each on La Palma (in the Cuevas de los Murciélagos)<ref name="Trujillo">Domingo Trujillo: [http://www.magrama.gob.es/es/biodiversidad/temas/inventarios-nacionales/43_Rhino_tcm7-22018.pdf Plecotus teneriffae Orejudo canario], 2004:p 258-261</ref> and Tenerife, are known; the larger La Palma colony is estimated to have declined by 80% in recent years. It is a protected species under Spanish law and international conventions (the Bonn Convention and Berne Convention).<ref name="iucn" />

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20111020123751/http://www.arkive.org/tenerife-long-eared-bat/plecotus-teneriffae/ Photographs of this species]

{{Vespertilionidae|V.|Pl.}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q123100}} {{Authority control}}

Category:Plecotus Category:Bats of Africa Category:Endemic fauna of the Canary Islands Category:Mammals of the Canary Islands Category:Endangered fauna of Africa Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Category:Mammals described in 1907 Category:Taxa named by Gerald Barrett-Hamilton