habitat_narrative
Terrestrial
It appears to tolerate a wide range of environmental conditions from arid semi-desert areas to montane grasslands (at altitudes as high as 1,600 m asl in the Drakensberg, KwaZulu-Natal; Taylor 1998), forests (dry and moist), bushveld, Acacia woodland, savannahs (dry and moist), and Mediterranean shrubland (Skinner & Chimimba 2005; Monadjem et al. 2010). However, it is possibly less abundant in low-lying, hot savannahs in the far east of southern Africa (Monadjem et al. 2010). It roosts under the bark of trees and similar vegetation, at the base of aloe leaves, between cracks in walls and under the roofs of houses, both thatched and corrugated iron or tiled (Lynch 1983; Monadjem 1998; ACR 2015). The species is recorded from all bioregions in the assessment region.It is an insectivorous, clutter-edge forager (Monadjem et al. 2010), with a diet that is known to vary seasonally and geographically. At Sengwa, Zimbabwe, a study found that Coleoptera and Trichoptera made up the majority of the diet of N. capensis, with Lepidoptera, Hemiptera and Diptera making up a lesser proportion (Fenton 1985). However, moth consumption by this syntonic species has been shown to increase six-fold under artificial lights (Minnaar et al. 2015), which may place unprecedented pressure on eared-moth populations and increase interspecific competition with allotonic bat species, given the global increase in light pollution.
Ecosystem and cultural services: As this species is insectivorous, it may contribute to controlling insect populations that damage crops (Boyles et al. 2011; Kunz et al. 2011). Ensuring a healthy population of insectivorous bats can thus decrease the need for pesticides. It is also an important prey species for owls due to its abundance and clutter-edge foraging style (slow flight at the edge of vegetation) (ACR 2015).
