An Annotated Checklist of Nebraskan Bats

A meticulous snapshot of mid-century mammalogy, this 1950s checklist documents every bat species known to inhabit Nebraska at that time. Olin L. Webb organized his findings into two categories: species he personally examined through specimens, and additional records pulled from existing literature. The work breathes life into specific habitats, particularly the limestone quarries of Cass and Sarpy counties, where certain species were observed hibernating in the state's rocky underworld. Webb traces the history of Nebraskan bat study back to early researchers, honoring the trailblazers who first documented these nocturnal creatures across the Plains. Though framed as a scientific inventory, the checklist reveals gaps in knowledge, implicitly inviting future generations to continue the work. For naturalists, bat enthusiasts, and anyone fascinated by regional natural history, it serves as a time capsule: a record of what we knew about Nebraska's flying mammals in the atomic age, before habitat loss and white-nose syndrome reshaped the continent's chiroptera.