''Aeorestes'' is a subgenus of ''

Lasiurus ''Lasiurus'' is a genus of bats in the family Vespertilionidae. Its members are known as hairy-tailed bats or red bats. Phylogeny The following is the relationship of the three genera formerly included within ''Lasiurus'', based on an analysis ...

'' commonly known as the hoary bats.

Taxonomy

The subgenus was initially described by Austrian zoologist

Leopold Fitzinger Leopold Joseph Franz Johann Fitzinger (13 April 1802 – 20 September 1884) was an Austrian zoologist. Fitzinger was born in Vienna and studied botany at the University of Vienna under Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin. He worked at the Vienna Naturhis ...

in 1870. Based on genetic divergence within ''

'', Baird et al. recommended that the hoary bats be recognized as a separate genus. They additionally recommended that '' Dasypterus'' should be elevated from a

subgenus In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...

to a genus as well. However, as ''Lasiurus'' was previously

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

, some authors see the creation of two new genera—''Aeorestes'' and ''Dasypterus''—as a solution to something that was not a problem. Teta advocated using ''Aeorestes'' as a subgenus and retaining the usage of ''Dasypterus'' as such. In a 2017 follow-up to their 2015 study, Baird et al. again expressed that ''Aeorestes'', ''Dasypterus'', and ''Lasiurus'' should be separate genera comprising the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

Lasiurini. They stated that the genetic distance of the three genera was much greater than observed between other bat genera, on average. In contrast to the average of 12.0% inter-generic divergence reported from another study on bats, ''Aeorestes'' and ''Dasypterus'' varied 18.79%; ''Aeorestes'' and ''Lasiurus'' varied 19.05%; and ''Dasypterus'' and ''Lasiurus'' varied 19.79%. ''Aeorestes'' split from ''Lasiurus'' approximately 17.99 Ma (million years ago). ''A. villosissimus'' diverged from the hoary bat and the Hawaiian hoary bat approximately 4.61 Ma, while the latter two species split from each other 1.35 Ma.

Species

Based on Baird et al., ''Aeorestes'' contains the following members: *

Hoary bat The hoary bat (''Lasiurus cinereus'') is a species of bat in the vesper bat family, Vespertilionidae. It lives throughout most of North America (and possibly also in Hawaii, although this is disputed). Taxonomy The hoary bat was described as ...

(''Lasiurus cinereus'') * Big red bat (''Lasiurus egregius'') *

Hawaiian hoary bat The Hawaiian hoary bat (''Lasiurus semotus''), also known as ''ōpeapea'', is a species of bat Endemism, endemic to the islands of Hawaiian Islands, Hawaii. The Hawaiian hoary bat occupies the major Hawaiian islands, making it the only extant and ...

(''Lasiurus semotus'') * South American hoary bat (''Lasiurus villosissimus'')

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q39081027 Lasiurus Taxa named by Leopold Fitzinger