CreatureData

Whiskered bat

Myotis mystacinus (Kuhl, 1817)

LCLeast Concernbats

The whiskered bat (Myotis mystacinus) is a bat in the family Vespertilionidae, order Chiroptera, within the class Mammalia. It is a tiny bat with an adult body mass of 4.99 g, up to 5.3 g, and a wingspan of 21.3 cm.

No freely licensed photo yet

Quick facts about the whiskered bat

This nocturnal, aerial invertivore has one young per litter and one litter per year, reaching sexual maturity at 1.1 years. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.

Weight
4.99 g – 5.3 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Wingspan
21.3 cmsrc for Wingspan
Lifespan
11.5 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet
Invertivoresrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan
24 years
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
1src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity
12 months – 15 monthssrc for Age at maturity
Litters or clutches a year
1src for Litters or clutches a year
Active
At night (nocturnal)src for Active
Lifestyle
Aerialsrc for Lifestyle
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

How big is the whiskered bat?

WHISKERED BAT · WINGSPAN 21.3 CMADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 21.3 cm, the recorded maximum wingspan of the whiskered bat is about 13% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Photos of the whiskered bat

Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.

1 more photo exists under a licence we cannot display: view at source.

Where does the whiskered bat live?

Not recorded

What is the whiskered bat?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The whiskered bat (Myotis mystacinus) is a small European bat with long fur. Although uncommon, M. mystacinus is often found around human habitation and around water; it is similar to Brandt's bat (Myotis brandtii), from which it was distinguished as a separate species only in 1970.

From the Wikipedia article “Whiskered bat” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Whiskered_bat&oldid=1374333239), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the whiskered bat endangered?

The whiskered bat is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

How is the whiskered bat classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classMammalia
  4. orderChiroptera
  5. familyVespertilionidae
  6. genusMyotis
  7. SpeciesMyotis mystacinus (Kuhl, 1817)

Synonyms Myotis bulgaricus, Myotis collaris, Myotis humeralis, Myotis lugubris, Myotis nigrofuscus, Myotis rufofuscus, Myotis schinzii, Myotis schrankii

Other names and names in other languages (17)
  • Common whiskered batEnglish
  • Whiskered bat, european whiskered batEnglish
  • Whiskered myotisEnglish
  • Whiskered myotisEnglish
  • WHISKERED MYOTISEnglish
  • Ystlum BarfogWelsh
  • Ystlumod BarfogWelsh
  • SkægflagermusDanish
  • Murciélago Ratonero BigotudoSpanish
  • viiksisiippaFinnish
  • Murin à moustachesFrench
  • Vespertilio mustacchinoItalian
  • skjeggflaggermusNorwegian Bokmål
  • SnorvleermuisDutch
  • baardvleermuisDutch
  • Kleine baardvleermuisDutch
  • mustaschfladdermusSwedish

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the whiskered bat

Other species in the same genus Myotis.

LC, Least Concern
Brandt's bat (Myotis brandtii)

Brandt's bat

Myotis brandtii

Vespertilionidae

CompareWhiskered bat vs Natterer's batWhiskered bat vs Daubenton's batWhiskered bat vs Greater mouse-eared batWhiskered bat vs Brandt's bat

Common questions

Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.

What kind of animal is the whiskered bat?

The whiskered bat is a mammal, a bat in the family Vespertilionidae and the order Chiroptera.

How big is the whiskered bat?

It is a tiny bat with an adult body mass of 4.99 g, up to 5.3 g, and a wingspan of 21.3 cm.

What does the whiskered bat eat?

The whiskered bat is an invertivore, placed at the carnivore trophic level, and forages in the air.

Is the whiskered bat endangered?

No. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.

How long does the whiskered bat live?

Its lifespan is 11.5 years, with values up to 24 years reported by sources.

How many young does the whiskered bat have?

It has 1 young per litter and 1 litter per year, reaching sexual maturity at from 1.0 to 1.2 years of age.

Who named the whiskered bat?

Myotis mystacinus was named by Kuhl in 1817, written as (Kuhl, 1817).

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Whiskered bat (Myotis mystacinus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/whiskered-bat

MLA

“Whiskered bat (Myotis mystacinus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/whiskered-bat.

BibTeX
@misc{whiskered_bat_2026,
  title = {Whiskered bat (Myotis mystacinus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/whiskered-bat},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}