_Specimens examined_ (27).--2 mi. N, 5 mi. W Ludlow, 1; NW 1/4 sec. 15,
R. 5 E, T. 22 N, 4; NE 1/4 sec. 24, R. 8 E, T. 21 N, 20; 4 mi. S, 7 mi.
W Ladner, 1; 10 mi. S, 5 mi. W Reva, 1.
This bat is widely distributed in northwestern South Dakota and was the
only species of _Myotis_ reported by Visher (1914:91) in his early
natural history survey of Harding County. We took specimens from several
of the wooded buttes and also in areas well-removed from timber; one was
shot, for example, as it foraged over the Little Missouri River in the
extreme western part of the county. On May 28, 1968, a barn was located
in which an incipient maternal colony (several hundred adult females)
roosted between double rafters supporting a metal roof. The owner of the
barn, Robert Parks of Ralph, stated that bats have utilized this place
as a summer roost for several years. The barn stands adjacent to the
nearly treeless Big Nasty Creek, which flows through the hilly terrain
of the northeastern section of the county.
Fourteen of 20 females taken from the colony each carried a single
embryo (crown-rump lengths measured 2 to 11 with a mean of 5.4). The
other six were not visibly pregnant upon gross examination but had
enlarged uteri, possibly indicating recent implantation. Of the
remaining females from Harding County, three collected on May 29 had
enlarged uteri, whereas two collected in late June evidenced no gross
reproductive activity. A male obtained May 29 had testes that measured
4.
Ectoparasites obtained from this species include chiggers,
_Leptotrombidium myotis_ (Ewing), a tick, _Ornithodoros kelleyi_ Cooley
and Kohls, fleas, _Myodopsylla gentilis_ Jordan and Rothschild and _M.
insignis_ (Rothschild), and an unidentified species of mite.
~Myotis volans interior~ Miller, 1914