North American Yellow Bats, 'Dasypterus,' and a List of the Named Kinds of the Genus Lasiurus Gray — John Shaqi
North American Yellow Bats, 'Dasypterus,' and a List of the Named Kinds of the Genus Lasiurus GrayHall, E. Raymond (Eugene Raymond)
Science
North American Yellow Bats, 'Dasypterus,' and a List of the Named Kinds of the Genus Lasiurus Gray
Hall, E. Raymond (Eugene Raymond)
Bats
The picture is less clear as regards bats from southeastern Texas (one
specimen each from Colorado and Travis counties, and four specimens
from Harris County). Five of the specimens have skulls (the Travis
County specimen is a skin only) and of these, four are clearly
assignable, on the basis of size and shape of the skull, to
_intermedius_. The fifth skull (specimen from Colorado County) is
intermediate in size between _floridanus_ and _intermedius_ and on
that basis alone could be assigned with equal propriety to either. All
these specimens from Texas more closely resemble _floridanus_ than
_intermedius_ in external size (forearms: 49.2, 49.6, 50.7, 49.9
(approximate), 49.6, 49.1). The pale yellowish-gray upper parts of the
four adults, seemingly resulting from a dilution of the brownish color
found in _floridanus_, differ from the color of typical specimens of
both _intermedius_ and _floridanus_, but the average is nearer that of
_floridanus_ than that of _intermedius_. Color of pre-adult pelage in
the one July-taken young of the year resembles the color of adults. An
August-taken young of the year is in process of acquiring the adult
pelage but the hairs have not reached their full growth; it is pale
yellowish but not so grayish as the other specimens. All characters
considered, the specimens from eastern Texas resemble _floridanus_
more than they do _intermedius_, and so are provisionally assigned to
_floridanus_ (as was done by Taylor and Davis, 1947:19; Eads, _et
al._, 1956:440; and, Davis, 1960:59). Additional material from
southeastern Texas is needed. It will be remembered that the type
locality of _intermedius_ is in the Rio Grande Valley; all specimens
seen, in the study here reported on, from the Texas side of the valley
are unquestionably referable to that subspecies.
Intergradation, then, occurs between _L. intermedius_ and _L.
floridanus_ in some degree in southern Louisiana and in more marked
degree in southeastern Texas. Specimens from the area of intergradation
vary more individually in many features than do specimens from other
areas. In general the intergrades tend to resemble _floridanus_ in
small size externally and _intermedius_ in large size of skull. The
specimens from southeastern Texas differ from typical specimens of both
subspecies in color, being pale yellowish-gray (instead of yellowish to
yellowish-orange as in _intermedius_ or yellowish brown to
brownish-gray as in _floridanus_), and this difference is shared to
some extent with animals from Louisiana, the latter being somewhat
intermediate between bats from Texas and those from Florida and
Georgia, although nearer those from Florida and Georgia.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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