The hoary bat (''Lasiurus cinereus'') is a species of

bat Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

in the

vesper bat Vespertilionidae is a family of microbats, of the order Chiroptera, flying, insect-eating mammals variously described as the common, vesper, or simple nosed bats. The vespertilionid family is the most diverse and widely distributed of bat famili ...

family, Vespertilionidae. It lives throughout most of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

(and possibly also in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

, although this is disputed).

Taxonomy

The hoary bat was described as a new species in 1796 by Palisot de Beauvois. Beauvois noted that the

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

was collected in the US state of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

by an individual identified as "Master Pancake". It has many taxonomic synonyms, including ''Vespertilio pruinosis'' ( Say, 1823) and ''Atalpha mexicana'' ( Saussure, 1861). Mammalogist

Harrison Allen Harrison Allen (April 17, 1841 – November 14, 1897) was an American surgeon, anatomist, Zoology, zoologist, and educator. He served as a surgeon in the United States Army during the American Civil War and at several Philadelphia hospitals inclu ...

was the first to use its current name combination of ''Lasiurus cinereus'', doing so in 1864. In a later publication, Allen placed it in the now-defunct genus ''Atalapha'', with a scientific name of ''Atalpha cinerea''. The South American hoary bat (''L. villosissimus''), which is found throughout

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, and the Hawaiian hoary bat (''L. semotus''), which is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

, were both previously classified under the hoary bat, but phylogenetic evidence supports them being distinct species. Some have argued to elevate the subgenus (Aeorestes) to a genus level classification for ''L. cinereus.'' However, this has not been accepted by taxonomic authorities as it violates the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature

Distribution

It ranges throughout

, from northern

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

south to

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

. Although the Hawaiian subspecies ''L. semotus'' was reclassified into a distinct species, studies in 2015 and 2017 found evidence supporting two different colonization events of

by ''Lasiurus'' species; one about 1.4 million years ago by the ancestors of ''L. semotus'', but also a much more recent colonization by true ''L. cinereus''. This would mean that ''L. cinereus'' also inhabits the Hawaiian islands, in cryptic

sympatry In biology, two closely related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter each other. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct spe ...

with ''L. semotus''. However, in contrast, a 2020 genetic study found no evidence of multiple bat species on Hawaii, finding the islands to only be inhabited by a single species, ''L. semotus'', and attributed the previous results as a consequence of incomplete lineage sorting.

Description

The hoary bat averages long with a wingspan and a weight of . It is the largest bat normally found in

. Its

coat A coat is typically an outer garment for the upper body, worn by any gender for warmth or fashion. Coats typically have long sleeves and are open down the front, and closing by means of buttons, zippers, hook-and-loop fasteners (AKA velcro), ...

is dense and dark brown, with white tips to the hairs that give the species its 'hoary' appearance for which it is named. The body is covered in fur except for the undersides of the wings. Males and females are dimorphic in body mass, with females 40% heavier than males.

Behavior

The bat normally roosts alone on trees, hidden in the foliage, but on occasion has been seen in caves with other bats. It prefers woodland, mainly

coniferous forests Conifers () are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All e ...

, but hunts over open areas or lakes. It hunts alone and its main food source is

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

s. The bats can cover an impressive while foraging. Hoary bats are long-distance migrants, spending the winter in

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

and the southwestern United States and the spring and summer in more northern latitudes in the United States and Canada.

Reproduction

The reproductive cycle of the hoary bat is not yet fully documented, but it is thought that they mate in August with birth occurring in June of the following year. It is thought that the

gestation period In mammals, pregnancy is the period of reproduction during which a female carries one or more live offspring from implantation in the uterus through gestation. It begins when a fertilized zygote implants in the female's uterus, and ends once i ...

is only 40 days and that mammalian embryonic diapause (delayed implantation) may play a role. Females typically bear twins, though litter sizes range from 1–4. Young are typically weaned after 7 weeks.

Conservation

While not listed as threatened or endangered, hoary bats suffer significant mortality from

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...

s. Across the United States in 2005, 40% of all bats killed by wind turbines were hoary bats—over 1000 hoary bats were killed in 2005. Most bat deaths occur during migration in the spring and fall. One common theory explaining this is that bats are attracted to the tall structure, possibly believing them to be trees that can be used for rest.

References

External links

NatureServe

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Bat Conservation International Species Profile
{{Taxonbar, from=Q587145 Hoary bat Hoary Hoary Hoary Hoary Hoary Hoary Hoary Hoary Mammals of Colombia Mammals of Chile Mammals of Hawaii Mammals of Peru Fauna of the Western United States Fauna of the San Francisco Bay Area Mammals described in 1796 Lasiurus