The eastern red bat (''Lasiurus borealis'') is a species of
microbat
Microbats constitute the suborder Microchiroptera within the order Chiroptera ( bats). Bats have long been differentiated into Megachiroptera (megabats) and Microchiroptera, based on their size, the use of echolocation by the Microchiroptera an ...
in the family
Vespertilionidae
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 ...
. Eastern red bats are widespread across eastern North America, with additional records in Bermuda.
Taxonomy and etymology
It was
described in 1776 by German zoologist
Philipp Ludwig Statius Müller
Philipp Ludwig Statius Müller (25 April 1725 – 5 January 1776) was a German zoologist.
Statius Müller was born in Esens, and was a professor of natural science at Erlangen. Between 1773 and 1776, he published a German translation of Linnaeu ...
. He initially placed it in the genus ''
Vespertilio
''Vespertilio'' is a genus of bats in the family Vespertilionidae. The common name for this family is vesper bats, which is a better-known classification than ''Vespertilio''. They are also known as frosted bats.
Species within the genus ''Vespe ...
'', with the name ''Vespertilio borealis''.
It was not placed into its current genus ''
Lasiurus'' until the creation of the genus in 1831 by
John Edward Gray
John Edward Gray, FRS (12 February 1800 – 7 March 1875) was a British zoologist. He was the elder brother of zoologist George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray (1766–1828). The same is used for ...
.
The generic name "''Lasiurus''" is derived from the Greek ''
lasios'' ("hairy") and ''
oura'' ("tail"); its
species name
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
"''
borealis
Borealis (Latin for ''northern'' or ''of the north'') may refer to:
Astronomy
* Borealis Basin or North Polar Basin, a basin on the planet Mars
* Borealis quadrangle, an area on the planet Mercury
** Borealis Planitia, a basin within the quadran ...
''" is
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
in origin, meaning "northern." Of the species in its genus, the eastern red bat is most closely related to other red bats, with which they form a
monophyly
In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...
. Its closest relatives are the
Pfeiffer's red bat
Pfeiffer's red bat (''Lasiurus pfeifferi'') is a species of bat from the family Vespertilioninae and is endemic to Cuba. It is listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN Red List due to a significant population decline, caused by human population den ...
(''Lasiurus pfeifferi''),
Seminole bat (''L. seminolus''),
cinnamon red bat (''L. varius''),
desert red bat (''L. blossevillii''),
saline red bat
The saline red bat (''Lasiurus salinae'') is a species of bat from the family Vespertilionidae. It was formerly included as a subspecies or a synonym of the eastern red bat and the desert red bat, but is distinct. The species is present in Argent ...
(''L. salinae''), and the
greater red bat (''L. atratus'').
Description
The eastern red bat has distinctive fur, with males being brick or rusty red, and females being a slightly more frosted shade of red.
Both male and female eastern red bats have distinctive shoulder patches of white fur.
[ Individual hairs on its back are approximately , while hairs on its ]uropatagium
The patagium (plural: patagia) is a membranous body part that assists an animal in obtaining lift when gliding or flight. The structure is found in extant and extinct groups of flying and gliding animals including bats, birds, some dromaeosau ...
are long. Fur on its ventral surface is usually lighter in color. Its entire body is densely furred, including its uropatagium. It is a medium-sized member of its genus, weighing and measuring from head to tail. Its ears are short and rounded, with triangular tragi. Its wings are long and pointed. Its tail is long, at long. Its forearm is approximately long. Its dental formula
Dentition pertains to the development of teeth and their arrangement in the mouth. In particular, it is the characteristic arrangement, kind, and number of teeth in a given species at a given age. That is, the number, type, and morpho-physiolog ...
is , for a total of 32 teeth.
File:Red bat (4a).JPG, alt=The image depicts a red bat hanging from a branch, Female eastern red bat, roosting in a tree
File:2. Red bat. Lasiurus noveboracensis, Figs. 2. Position in repose LCCN2017660738 (cropped).jpg, In 1874 art
Biology and ecology
The aspect ratio and wing loading of eastern red bat wings indicates that they fly relatively quickly and are moderately maneuverable. Eastern red bats are insectivorous, preying heavily on moth
Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...
s, with other insect taxa also consumed. They consume known pests, including gypsy moths, tent caterpillar moths, ''Cydia
Cydia is a graphical user interface of APT (Advanced Package Tool) for iOS. It enables a user to find and install software not authorized by Apple on jailbroken iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch devices. It also refers to digital distribution pl ...
'' moths, ''Acrobasis
''Acrobasis'' is a genus of moths of the family Pyralidae. '' moths, cutworm moths, and coneworm moths.
Reproduction and life expectancy
Eastern red bat breeding season starts in the autumn,[ and multiple males can sire a single litter.] Pups are born in the summer,[ usually sometime between May and July.] Unlike other bats species who usually produce one pup, eastern red bats have on average three pups at a time, and some eastern red bats have given birth to as many as five pups. Females have four nipples, which allows them to nourish multiple offspring at once. Eastern red bat pups learn to fly about a month after being born, after which they are weaned. Even after the pups have learned how to fly, they remain with their mother for a while before roosting on their own.
Eastern red bats are often attacked and killed by hawks and owl
Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...
s, or aggressive species like blue jays and crow
A crow is a bird of the genus '' Corvus'', or more broadly a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. Crows are generally black in colour. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not pinned scientifica ...
s; the former animal in particular serves as a major predator for bats hiding in leaf piles. Eastern red bats are also killed by flying into cars, tall human-made structures, or wind turbine
A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each yea ...
s. Allen Kurta argues that the lifespan for an eastern red bat is about two years, although they can probably live even longer.[
]
Range and habitat
The eastern red bat is widely distributed in eastern North America and Bermuda
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. It generally occurs east of the Continental Divide, including southern Canada and northeastern Mexico. In the winter, it occurs in the southeastern United States and northeastern Mexico, with greatest concentrations in coastal areas. In the spring and summer, it can be found in the Great Lakes region
The Great Lakes region of North America is a binational Canadian–American region that includes portions of the eight U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin along with the Canadian p ...
and the Great Plains region. Unlike the closely related hoary bat, males and females have the same geographic range throughout the year. Formerly, some authors included the western United States, Central America, and the northern part of South America in its range, but these populations have since been reassigned to the desert red bat, ''Lasiurus blossevillii''.
Conservation
The eastern red bat is evaluated as least concern
A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...
by the IUCN, the lowest-priority conservation category. It meets the criteria for this designation because it has a wide geographic range, large population size, it occurs in protected areas, it tolerates some habitat disturbance, and its population size is unlikely to be declining rapidly.
Eastern red bats and other migratory tree bats are vulnerable to death by wind turbines via barotrauma
Barotrauma is physical damage to body tissues caused by a difference in pressure between a gas space inside, or contact with, the body and the surrounding gas or liquid. The initial damage is usually due to over-stretching the tissues in tens ...
. The eastern red bat has the second-greatest mortality from wind turbines, with hoary bats most affected.
While eastern red bats have been documented carrying the spores of ''Pseudogymnoascus destructans
''Pseudogymnoascus destructans'' (formerly known as ''Geomyces destructans'') is a psychrophilic (cold-loving) fungus that causes white-nose syndrome (WNS), a fatal disease that has devastated bat populations in parts of the United States and Ca ...
'', the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome
White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a fungal disease in North American bats which has resulted in the dramatic decrease of the bat population in the United States and Canada, reportedly killing millions as of 2018. The condition is named for a distincti ...
, no individuals have been observed with clinical symptoms of the disease.
See also
* Bats of Canada There are eighteen indigenous species of bats in Canada, which are found in many parts of the country. They are insectivores, and are prey to falcons, hawks, owls, snakes, cats, and raccoons.Health Canada
Species
The little brown bat is the mos ...
* Bats of the United States
Most of the many bat species found in the United States are insectivorous except for three flower eating species that migrate from Mexico and one that inhabits the Florida Keys.
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Species
Bats belong to the biological order of Chiropt ...
Explanatory notes
References
External links
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q301708
Bats of Canada
Bats of North America
Bats of the Caribbean
Bats of the United States
Bat, Eastern Red
Bat, Eastern Red
Lasiurus
Mammals described in 1776
Mammals of the Bahamas