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A New Name for the Mexican Red Bat



By

E. RAYMOND HALL



University of Kansas Publications
Museum of Natural History
Volume 5, No. 14, pp. 223-226
December 15, 1951

University of Kansas
LAWRENCE
1951


UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PUBLICATIONS, MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Editors: E. Raymond Hall, Chairman, A. Byron Leonard,
Edward H. Taylor, Robert W. Wilson

Volume 5, No. 14, pp. 223-226
December 15, 1951

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Lawrence, Kansas

PRINTED BY
FERD VOILAND, JR., STATE PRINTER
TOPEKA, KANSAS

1951

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A New Name for the Mexican Red Bat

By

E. RAYMOND HALL


When Gerrit S. Miller, Jr., published his "Revision of the North American
Bats of the Family Vespertilionidae" (N. Amer. Fauna, 13:1-140, 3 pls.,
39 figs. in text, October 16, 1897), the red bat, _Lasiurus borealis_,
was known from the southern half of Mexico but he did not know that the
hoary bat, _Lasiurus cinereus_, also occurred there. Therefore, the
name _A[talapha]. mexicana_ Saussure (Revue et magasin de zoologie, 13
(ser. 2): 97, March, 1861) that clearly pertained to a lasiurine bat,
almost certainly from southern Mexico, was applied by Miller (_op.
cit._: 111) to the red bat as a subspecific name. Subsequently, the
hoary bat, _Lasiurus cinereus cinereus_ (Beauvois 1796), was shown to
occur in southern Mexico. For example, an adult male _L. c. cinereus_
was obtained on May 6, 1945, by W. H. Burt from the Barranca Seca in
the State of Michoacán (see Hall and Villa, Univ. Kansas Publ., Mus.
Nat. Hist., 1:445, December 27, 1949). Because two, instead of only
one, species of _Lasiurus_ are now known to occur in the general part
of Mexico visited by Saussure, it has seemed desirable to re-examine
the application of the name _A[talapha]. mexicana_ Saussure which that
naturalist proposed along with a description as follows:

Long inrolled tail; femoral patagium as in the vespertilios. Teeth 4/2,
1/1, 4/5 or 5/5.

_A. mexicana_ Valida. Molar teeth 4/5. Head and throat with a tendency
toward fulvous, mouth and chin dark. Ears small and rounded, black,
exterior at the base dark and hairy, interior with the anterior margin
and an area in the middle yellow-haired. Back chestnut, above [hairs
apically] grayish, below [hairs lower down] reddish, everywhere marbled
with white. Tibiae, feet and the femoral patagium reddish marbled with
white. Venter dusky-gray, with hairs at the apex and on the breast
whitish, on the abdomen with tendency toward fulvous. White spot on
humerus. Wings black; underneath the arm and the superior half of the
wing yellow-haired. Above [on the upper side] with three whitish spots
on the base of the thumb and fifth finger situated in the angle of the
elbow.--Forearm length 53 mm. [Above is translation from the Latin
original.]

As may be readily seen by comparing specimens of _L. borealis_ and _L.
cinereus_ from Mexico (or also from any place in North America north
of Mexico), the description by Saussure applies to the hoary bat
(_Lasiurus cinereus_) and not to the red bat (_Lasiurus borealis_).

Accordingly, the name _A[talapha]. mexicana_ Saussure 1861 falls as a
synonym of _Lasiurus cinereus cinereus_ (Beauvois 1796); if the hoary
bat of the southern end of the Mexican table land should prove to be
subspecifically separable, the name _Lasiurus cinereus mexicanus_ would
be available for it.

The Mexican red bat, thus, is left without a name, and for it I propose

Lasiurus borealis ornatus new subspecies

_Type._--Skin (8492 U.S. Nat. Mus.), and corresponding skull (37578
U.S. Nat. Mus.), sex not recorded on the label; Penuela, Veracruz;
20 February 1866; obtained by F. Sumichrast.

_Range._--Approximately the southern two-fifths of Mexico; exact limits
of range unknown.

_Diagnosis._--Resembles _Lasiurus borealis teliotis_ (H. Allen) but
feet, interfemoral membrane, and under side of wings much less hairy.

_Comparisons._--From _L. b. teliotis_, which occurs to the northwest,
_L. b. ornatus_ differs in the restricted peripheral distribution of
the fur (see Miller, N. Amer. Fauna, 13:112, October 16, 1897). From
_Lasiurus borealis frantzii_ (Peters), which occurs to the southward,
_L. b. ornatus_ differs in longer forearm (41 _versus_ 37); upper parts
lighter rufescent or chestnut, the back being only lightly overlaid
with this color; underparts washed with lighter buff, the basal tone
plumbeous, instead of blackish; skull larger (see Goldman, Proc. Biol.
Soc. Washington, 45:148, September 9, 1932).

_Transmitted October 20, 1951._


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