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Hoary Bat

Lasiurus cinereus

Description 2

Hoary bats are found from northern Canada all the way to Guatemala, and also in South America and Hawaii. They are solitary and roost in trees. Their frosted, or hoary, look comes from a tinge of white over their grayish-brown fur. Their flight is distinctively fast and direct and can be used as an identifying trait. Hoary bats eat moths, beetles, grasshoppers, wasps, and dragonflies.

Adaptation: Crested, pointy-cusped cheek teeth are an adaptation to insect eating, as in the hoary bat, Lasiurus cinereus. The cutting surfaces are arranged like triangles, in a zigzag, which is an efficient way to pack a long, linear shearing edge into a small space.

Links:
Mammal Species of the World
Click here for The American Society of Mammalogists species account

Conservation status 3

Hoary bats are widespread and secure over much of their range. One subspecies, the Hawaiian hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus semotus), is listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Temperate North American bats are now threatened by a fungal disease called “white-nose syndrome.” This disease has devastated eastern North American bat populations at hibernation sites since 2007. The fungus, Geomyces destructans, grows best in cold, humid conditions that are typical of many bat hibernacula. The fungus grows on, and in some cases invades, the bodies of hibernating bats and seems to result in disturbance from hibernation, causing a debilitating loss of important metabolic resources and mass deaths. Mortality rates at some hibernation sites have been as high as 90%. While there are currently no reports of Lasiurus cinereus mortalities as a result of white-nose syndrome, the disease continues to expand its range in North America.

US Federal List: no special status

CITES: no special status

State of Michigan List: no special status

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern

Description 2

Hoary bats are found from northern Canada all the way to Guatemala, and also in South America and Hawaii. They are solitary and roost in trees. Their frosted, or hoary, look comes from a tinge of white over their grayish-brown fur. Their flight is distinctively fast and direct and can be used as an identifying trait. Hoary bats eat moths, beetles, grasshoppers, wasps, and dragonflies.

Adaptation: Crested, pointy-cusped cheek teeth are an adaptation to insect eating, as in the hoary bat, Lasiurus cinereus. The cutting surfaces are arranged like triangles, in a zigzag, which is an efficient way to pack a long, linear shearing edge into a small space.

Links:
Mammal Species of the World
Click here for The American Society of Mammalogists species account

Cyclicity 4

Comments: Emerges usually well after dark, though Layne (1978) stated that emergence occurs early in the evening and, at least in Hawaii, diurnal flight is known (Fujioka and Gon 1988). Feeding activity peaks 4-5 hours after sunset, with a secondary peak several hours before dawn. May hibernate in north.

Distribution 5

Hoary bats are the most widespread of all bats in the United States. Though not yet recorded in Alaska, these bats are thought to occur in all 50 states. They range from the tree limit in Canada down to at least Guatemala in Central America, and throughout South America. They are the only bats found in Hawaii. There are records of migrant hoary bats on Southampton Island off of Northern Canada, and from Iceland, Bermuda, and the Orkney Islands off Scotland. They are rare in most of the eastern United States and northern Rockies and common in the Pacific Northwest and prairie states. They are abundant in California, Arizona, and New Mexico, where they winter. They winter in southern California, southeastern United States, Mexico, and Guatemala, but have also been found in Michigan, New York and Connecticut during December and in Indiana during January. This suggests that some may winter farther north than was previously expected.

Sexes are generally only found together in parts of Nebraska, Montana, and the Badlands of South Dakota. Males and females are usually separated during the warmer months in North America, except during the mating season. Females appear to be more concentrated in the western part of North America. There is evidence for an altitudinal separation of sexes in California, with females concentrated in the lowlands and coastal valleys and males higher up in the foothills and mountains.

Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native ); neotropical (Native )

Food habits 6

Lepidoptera make up the bulk of the diet of hoary bats. These bats are also known to feed on Diptera, Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Orthoptera, Isoptera, and Odonata. The bat approaches the insect from behind, taking the rear portion in its mouth and biting off and swallowing this area of the insect, while dropping the wings and head. In comparison to other bats, hoary bats feed on relatively few kinds of insects. On rare occasions, these bats have been observed to feed on leaves, grass, shed snake skin, and pipistrellus subflavus.

Animal Foods: mammals; insects

Plant Foods: leaves

Geographic range 7

Hoary bats are the most widespread of all bats in the United States. Though not yet recorded in Alaska, these bats are thought to occur in all 50 states. They range from the tree limit in Canada down to at least Guatemala in Central America, and throughout South America. They are the only bats found in Hawaii. There are records of migrant hoary bats on Southampton Island off of Northern Canada, and from Iceland, Bermuda, and the Orkney Islands off Scotland. They are rare in most of the eastern United States and northern Rockies and common in the Pacific Northwest and prairie states. They are abundant in California, Arizona, and New Mexico, where they winter. They spend the winter in southern California, southeastern United States, Mexico, and Guatemala, but have also been found in Michigan, New York and Connecticut during December and in Indiana during January. This suggests that some may winter farther north than was previously expected.

Sexes are generally only found together in parts of Nebraska, Montana, and the Badlands of South Dakota. Males and females are usually separated during the warmer months in North America, except during the mating season. Females appear to be more concentrated in the western part of North America. There is evidence for a separation of sexes by altitude in California, with females concentrated in the lowlands and coastal valleys and males higher up in the foothills and mountains.

Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native ); neotropical (Native )

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) Juan Cruzado, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), uploaded by Juan Cruzado, http://www.flickr.com/photos/juancruzado/6889332175/
  2. (c) Smithsonian Institution, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://eol.org/data_objects/6624956
  3. (c) The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/31400922
  4. (c) NatureServe, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/28881945
  5. (c) The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/31400911
  6. (c) The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/25065264
  7. (c) The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/25065258

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