From Morocco throughout Europe, into southern Scotland and southern Scandinavia. Widely distributed on the Balkan Peninsula. In Bulgaria it is widespread throughout the country, in the lowlands and in the mountains.
The smallest European Myotis with dark, often black face and ears, and with a long tragus. The fur is frizzy, on the back is dark brown or nut-brown. The ventral side can be with different shades of grey
The calls are 3–6ms long with а frequency that starts with 75-120 kHz and ends at 28-30 kHz.
Occurs from plains into mountains, in urbanised sites and on mountain meadows. The Whiskered Bat is sedentary or only a short-range migrant. There are few records of flights over 150 km..
Summer roosts are in tree hollows, under the bark of the trees, rock crevices and caves. In the winter they hibernate in caves, mine galleries and basements.
The copulation is from fall to spring. Nursery colonies are formed in May and they comprise 20-60 females, the males usually live individually. Females give birth to one, in rare cases of two young. The birth takes place from the middle to the end of June. Females become sexually mature at 15 months, but some at 3 months old. Мaximum life expectancy is 23 years, average – 4.
The flight is manoeuvrable, along vegetation edges such as hedges and forest edges but also in areas with open stands of trees such as traditional orchards. The food consists of flying insects such as moths, Diptera, lacewings and Hymenoptera. Also they can eat non flying arthropods.
In Bulgaria the threats are unexplored.
Christian Dietz and Andreas Kiefer (2014), “Bats of Britain and Europe”;
Vasil Popov, Atila Sedefchev (2003), “Mammals in Bulgaria”;
Vasil Popov, Nikolay Spasov, Teodora Ivanova, Borqna Mihaylova and Kiril Georgiev (2007), “Mammals important for conservation in Bulgaria”.