The status of the hoary bat, Lasiurus cinereus, as a British species

Abstract

The hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus) is a widespread American species; the nominate race, L. c. cinereus, occurs throughout most of North America, L. c. villosissimus is found in South America, and L. c. semotus occurs in Hawaii (Schump & Schump, 1982). Its possible admission to the list of British mammals depends upon a single specimen found on South Ronaldsay, Orkney, in about September 1847 (Wolley, 1849, 1850a, b). From Wolley's detailed account and description, there seems no doubt of the circumstances of the finding of the specimen, nor of its identity. Doubts are only raised by the existence of a specimen of Lasiurus in the Zoology Museum of the University of Cambridge which had been supposed to be the Orkney specimen. This specimen was examined by Barrett‐Hamilton (1910) who reported that it was an example of the Hawaiian form L. c. semotus (he used the name Nycteris semota), noted that it did not match Wolley's careful description, but concluded “the matter is not as clear as it might be”. This doubt has persisted to the present day, and while the record is mentioned in some accounts (e.g. van den Brink, 1967), it is omitted completely from others, notably Corbet & Southern (1977). The uncertainty has prompted this brief re‐examination of the issue; in particular, what is the identity of the specimen in Cambridge, how does it compare with Wolley's account of the Orkney specimen, and what, in the light of modern knowledge of L. cinereus, is the likelihood of its occurrence as a vagrant in Britain?