Seminole bat

Seminole bat
The image depicts a Seminole bat in the hands of a researcher
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Chiroptera
Family: Vespertilionidae
Genus: Lasiurus
Species:
L. seminolus
Binomial name
Lasiurus seminolus
(Rhoads, 1895)

The Seminole bat (Lasiurus seminolus) is a type of bat in the family Vespertilionidae.

Description

The Seminole bat is often confused with the red bat. The Seminole bat has a mahogany color with a frosted look because to white tipped dorsal hairs. They weigh around 12 grams. Females are larger than males.[2]

Distribution and Habitat

The Seminole bat is found in the Southeastern United States. This includes Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina and parts of Texas, Tennessee, Arkansas and North Carolina. It has also been seen as far as Mexico.[2] It is a migratory species. In the winter, it lives along the Gulf Coast, North and South Carolina, and southern Arkansas. In the summer, they migrate as far north as Missouri and Kentucky.[3]

It prefers to live in forested areas. In winter, they are found to use leaf litter and Spanish moss as insulation in their roost sites.[4]

Feeding

Seminole bats are insectivores. They eat large amounts of Hymenoptera (ants, bees and wasps), Coleoptera (beetles), Lepidoptera (moths). They have also been shown to eat smaller amounts of Homoptera (cicadas) and Diptera (flies).[5]

References

  1. ↑ Solari, S. (2019). "Lasiurus seminolus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019: e.T11353A22119113. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-1.RLTS.T11353A22119113.en.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Wilkins, Kenneth T. (1987-02-27). "Lasiurus seminolus". Mammalian Species (280): 1–5. doi:10.2307/3504023. JSTOR 3504023.
  3. ↑ Perry, Roger W (2018). "Migration and recent range expansion of Seminole bats (Lasiurus seminolus) in the United States". Journal of Mammalogy. 99 (6): 1478–1485. doi:10.1093/jmammal/gyy135.
  4. ↑ Hein, Cris D.; Castleberry, Steven B.; Miller, Karl V. (2008). "Male Seminole Bat Winter Roost-Site Selection in a Managed Forest". Journal of Wildlife Management. 72 (8): 1756–1764. doi:10.2193/2007-595. ISSN 0022-541X. S2CID 85576775.
  5. ↑ Carter, Timothy C.; Menzel, Michael A.; Chapman, Brian R.; Miller, Karl V. (2004). "Partitioning of Food Resources by Syntopic Eastern Red (Lasiurus borealis), Seminole (L. seminolus) and Evening (Nycticeius humeralis) Bats". The American Midland Naturalist. 151 (1): 186–191. doi:10.1674/0003-0031(2004)151[0186:POFRBS]2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0003-0031. S2CID 86188266.