A New Name for the Mexican Red Bat

By

E. RAYMOND HALL

University of Kansas PublicationsMuseum of Natural HistoryVolume 5, No. 14, pp. 223-226December 15, 1951

University of KansasLAWRENCE1951

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. 223-226December 15, 1951

UNIVERSITY OF KANSASLawrence, Kansas

PRINTED BYFERD VOILAND, JR. , STATE PRINTERTOPEKA, 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 AmericanBats 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 thehoary bat, _Lasiurus cinereus_, also occurred there. Therefore, thename _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, thehoary bat, _Lasiurus cinereus cinereus_ (Beauvois 1796), was shown tooccur 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 inthe State of Michoacán (see Hall and Villa, Univ. Kansas Publ. , Mus. Nat. Hist. , 1:445, December 27, 1949). Because two, instead of onlyone, species of _Lasiurus_ are now known to occur in the general partof Mexico visited by Saussure, it has seemed desirable to re-examinethe application of the name _A[talapha]. Mexicana_ Saussure which thatnaturalist 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 tendencytoward fulvous, mouth and chin dark. Ears small and rounded, black, exterior at the base dark and hairy, interior with the anterior marginand an area in the middle yellow-haired. Back chestnut, above [hairsapically] grayish, below [hairs lower down] reddish, everywhere marbledwith white. Tibiae, feet and the femoral patagium reddish marbled withwhite. Venter dusky-gray, with hairs at the apex and on the breastwhitish, on the abdomen with tendency toward fulvous. White spot onhumerus. Wings black; underneath the arm and the superior half of thewing yellow-haired. Above [on the upper side] with three whitish spotson the base of the thumb and fifth finger situated in the angle of theelbow. --Forearm length 53 mm. [Above is translation from the Latinoriginal. ]

As may be readily seen by comparing specimens of _L. Borealis_ and _L. Cinereus_ from Mexico (or also from any place in North America northof 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 asynonym of _Lasiurus cinereus cinereus_ (Beauvois 1796); if the hoarybat of the southern end of the Mexican table land should prove to besubspecifically separable, the name _Lasiurus cinereus mexicanus_ wouldbe 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 (37578U. 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 limitsof range unknown. 

_Diagnosis. _--Resembles _Lasiurus borealis teliotis_ (H. Allen) butfeet, 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 ofthe 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 partslighter rufescent or chestnut, the back being only lightly overlaidwith this color; underparts washed with lighter buff, the basal toneplumbeous, instead of blackish; skull larger (see Goldman, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 45:148, September 9, 1932). 

_Transmitted October 20, 1951. _

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