[Pg 583]
University of Kansas Publications
Museum of Natural History
Volume 7, No. 10, pp. 583-586
November 15, 1954
A New Bat (Genus Pipistrellus)
from Northeastern Mexico
BY
ROLLIN H. BAKER
University of Kansas
Lawrence
1954
[Pg 584]
University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History
Editors: E. Raymond Hall, Chairman, A. Byron Leonard,
Robert W. Wilson
Volume 7, No. 10, pp. 583-586
Published November 15, 1954
University of Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas
PRINTED BY
FERD VOILAND, JR., STATE PRINTER
TOPEKA, KANSAS
1954
[Pg 585]
A New Bat (Genus Pipistrellus)
from Northeastern México
by
Rollin H. Baker
The eastern pipistrelle, Pipistrellus subflavus (Cuvier) in the western
part of its range, occurs along the Río Grande and its tributaries
as far west as northern Coahuila and Val Verde County, Texas.
Specimens from those places represent a heretofore undescribed
subspecies which may be named and described as follows:
Pipistrellus subflavus clarus new subspecies
Type.—Female, adult, skin and skull; No. 48270, Univ. Kansas Mus. Nat.
Hist.; 2 mi. W Jiménez, el. 850 ft., Coahuila; 19 June 1952; obtained by Rollin
H. Baker, original No. 2062.
Range.—Known from northern Coahuila and adjacent parts of southwestern
Texas.
Diagnosis.—Size large (see measurements); upper parts pale, near (c)
Cinnamon-Buff (capitalized color term after Ridgway, Color Standards and
Color Nomenclature, Washington, D. C., 1912); skull large; zygomata expanded
laterally.
Comparisons.—Compared with Pipistrellus subflavus subflavus (specimens
from Marshall Hall in Maryland, Raleigh in North Carolina, and Barber County
in Kansas) P. s. clarus is paler, of approximately equal size, and has the
zygomata slightly more expanded laterally. From Pipistrellus subflavus veracrucis
(Ward), specimens from 4 km. E Las Vigas, el. 8500 ft., Veracruz, P. s.
clarus differs in being larger, paler, and in having a larger skull.
Remarks.—Pipistrellus subflavus clarus is the palest subspecies of
the eastern pipistrelle. Of the specimens assigned to clarus (all
taken in May and June), only two are sufficiently dark to compare
favorably with examples of typical subflavus. A specimen (KU
60296) assigned to P. s. subflavus from Rancho Pano Ayuctle, el.
300 ft., 6 mi. N Gómez Farías, Tamaulipas, is much darker than
clarus. A specimen recorded from Devils River, Texas, by V. Bailey
(N. Amer. Fauna, 25:211, October 24, 1905) has not been examined
by me but presumably is P. s. clarus.
Pipistrellus subflavus clarus was taken along the Río San Diego
and the Río Sabinas, both tributaries of the Río Grande, where park-like
stands of pecan, cypress, willow and other trees bordered these
streams. The species was not found at stock ponds or along stream
courses in adjacent places where such trees were absent. Funds
[Pg 586]for financing field work were made available by the Kansas University
Endowment Association and the National Science Foundation.
Measurements.—Measurements of the holotype and average and extreme
measurements of 5 adult females from the type locality, including the holotype,
are, respectively, as follows: Total length, 85, 88.0 (85-92); length of tail
vertebrae, 43, 40.8 (36-45); length of hind foot, 9, 9.4 (8.5-11); height of ear
from notch, 12, 12.6 (12-13); length of forearm, 33.8, 33.4 (32.9-33.8); length
of tibia, 14.8, 14.6 (14.5-14.8); greatest length of skull, 13.3, 13.1 (12.7-13.3);
condylobasal length, 12.6, 12.4 (12.1-12.6); breadth of braincase, 7.0, 6.8
(6.7-7.0); zygomatic breadth, 8.1, 8.0 (7.8-8.2); mastoid breadth, 7.1, 6.9
(6.5-7.1); length maxillary tooth-row, 4.5, 4.5 (4.4-4.6).
Specimens examined.—Those from Texas are in the collection of the United
States National Museum, and those from Coahuila are in University of Kansas
Museum of Natural History. Total, 21. Texas: Comstock, 1; Del Rio, 2.
Coahuila: 2 mi. W Jiménez, 850 ft., 15; 2 mi. S and 3 mi. E San Juan de
Sabinas, 1160 ft., 3.
Transmitted August 23, 1954.
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