BATS OF THE WHITE AND INYO MOUNTAINS OF CALIFORNIA-NEVADA

We surveyed hats throughout the White and Inyo Mountains of California and Nevada. From December 1990 to November 1996, we surveyed hibernat ing bats, and foraging bats from June 1992 to September 1996. The Whit e-Inyo Range rests in a unique biogeographical junction between tile S ierra Nevada, Mojave Desert, and Great Basin regions. Elevational grad ients of 305-4340 m, combined with limited human development, further enhance the interest of natural history and faunal distributions in th is range. We found 13 bal species in the course of 2668 observations. Three of these species, the spotted bat (Euderma maculatum), silver-ha ired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans), and hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus ). have no previous records from the White-Inyo Range. We found bats i n all vegetation zones except the alpine, 3500-4342 ru. Despite an abu ndance of mines in this range, only Townsend's big-tared Lat (Corynorh inus townsendii) and the western small-footed myotis (Myotis ciliolabr um) used them routinely. Out data also indicated the importance of sur face water to bat populations in arid regions.