An Update on the Status of Red Bats, Lasiurus Blossevillii and Lasiurus Borealis, in British Columbia

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AN UPDATE ON THE STATUS OF RED BATS, LASIURUS BLOSSEVILLII RAPT AND LASIURUS BOREALIS, IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

DAVID WNAGORSEN AND BRIAN PATERSON NORTHWESTERN NATURALIST 93:235–237 WINTER 2012

AN UPDATE ON THE STATUS OF RED BATS, LASIURUS BLOSSEVILLII AND LASIURUS BOREALIS, IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

DAVID WNAGORSEN AND BRIAN PATERSON

Key words: acoustic detections, British Co- (CMN 1182), Ottawa. The specimen is an adult lumbia, distribution, DNA, Eastern Red Bat, female with a forearm length of 36 mm. In 2010, identification, Lasiurus blossevillii, Lasiurus bor- we submitted a 535 mm sample of dried wing ealis, Western Red Bat tissue from the study skin to Wildlife Genetics International in Nelson, British Columbia for According to Nagorsen and Brigham (1993), DNA sequencing. DNA was extracted using the Western Red Bat (Lasiurus blossevillii) is the a QIAGEN DNeasy blood and tissue kit. The only species of red bat that occurs in British species test was a sequence-based analysis of Columbia. Its occurrence is based on a single the 16S rDNA, mtDNA gene compared with museum specimen collected 6 July 1905 in the Genbank sequences of L. blossevillii (AY495479) Skagit Valley of southern British Columbia. The and L. borealis (AY495481, AY495480). The tissue specimen originally was identified and labelled yielded a sequence profile that exactly matched (Fig. 1) as the ‘‘Western Red Bat Lasiurus borealis the sequence for L. borealis. Although no cranial teliotis’’, the western subspecies of the Eastern measurements can be taken, pelage color and a Red Bat (Anderson 1946; van Zyll de Jong 1985). heavily furred interfemoral membrane are Subsequent genetic studies using allozymes consistent with traits of L. borealis according to (Baker and other 1988) and mitochondrial the key in Schmidly (1991). ribosomal genes (Morales and Bickham 1995) On 3 August 2010, 2 L. borealis fatalities were demonstrated that the eastern and western found during carcass searches at the Bear North American populations are distinct Mountain Wind Park in northeastern British species, L. borealis and L. blossevillii. From the Columbia, 13 km southwest of Dawson Creek. subspecific name on the specimen tag, the The wind facility consists of 34 Enercon E-82 Skagit specimen was presumed to be L. blosse- wind generating turbines with a hub height of villii by Nagorsen and Brigham (1993). Two 78 m; turbines have been operational since recent fatalities of L. borealis at a wind ener- November 2009. Carcass searches April through gy facility in northeastern British Columbia September 2010 yielded 53 bat fatalities. In 2011, prompted us to reassess the identity of the we recovered 27 bat fatalities in carcass searches Skagit specimen with DNA sequencing and from April to September; none were L. borealis. review the status of red bats in the province. Both red bats collected in 2010 were deposited The Skagit specimen consists of a study skin in the research collections of the Royal British with skull inside the skin and is housed in Columbia Museum (RBCM), Victoria. They collections at the Canadian Museum of Nature represent the 1st specimen or capture records 236 NORTHWESTERN NATURALIST 93(3)

would be expected to be L. borealis based on the new evidence presented herein. The location recorded on the Skagit specimen tag is ‘‘Skagit, BC’’; associated field notes suggest that the collector was in the Skagit River valley on that date. However, precise location and habitat where the red bat was captured is unknown. Fenton and others (1983) detected L. borealis along the Okanagan River between Okanagan Falls and Oliver in an area characterized by a mix of riparian, natural steppe-grassland, and orchard habitats situated FIGURE 1. Study skin and associated specimen tags at 300 to 350 m elevation. Bear Mountain Wind for CMN 1182, the historical specimen from the Skagit Park is on a northwest- to southeast-oriented Valley, British Columbia. Photograph by Kamal Khidas, Canadian Museum of Nature. ridge at 920 to 970 m elevation in deciduous woodland dominated by Quaking Aspen (Pop- ulus tremuloides) with some Balsam Poplar of red bats in the province since 1905. RBCM (Populus balsamifera) and White Spruce (Picea 20897 was an adult female with a forearm glauca). length 41.4 mm found near turbine 27 (UTM: Except for Barclay’s (1984) study at Delta Zone 10, 662793E, 6174255N, NAD83). RBCM Marsh in southern Manitoba, little is known 20898 was an eviscerated adult (forearm about the reproduction, seasonal distribution, length542.0 mm) of indeterminate sex found and migration of L. borealis in western Canada. near turbine 34 (UTM: Zone 10, 663541E, 6172938N, NAD83). Additionally, we recorded No reproductive data were recorded for the 4 acoustic files of L. borealis on 2, 4, 5, and 19 Skagit specimen, but its capture date (6 July) is August 2010 during acoustic monitoring near outside the spring (June) or autumn (late July- turbines from April through September with early September) migration periods observed AnabatH SD1 and Anabat II bat detectors. All L. by Barclay (1984) and suggests a summer borealis detections were made with acoustic resident. August dates for the Okanagan Valley units that had microphones mounted at 30 m and Bear Mountain records are consistent with height. No L. borealis files were recorded during early autumn migrants. With limited sampling similar acoustic monitoring in 2011. effort and distributional data, the geographic The nearest known occurrences of L. blosse- range and migrational patterns of L. borealis in villii to British Columbia are in northern British Columbia, where this species is at the California (Cryan 2003), and its widely disjunct western limits of its range, are essentially un- occurrence in southern British Columbia has known. We encourage biologists conducting been an enigma. With re-identification of the general bat surveys or bat assessments at wind Skagit specimen as L. borealis, there is no energy projects in the province to retain any evidence that L. blossevillii occurs in Canada. putative red bat acoustic files or carcasses recov- In addition to the Skagit Valley, Nagorsen and ered at wind turbines as voucher material for Brigham (1993) reported L. blossevillii from the future research. southern Okanagan Valley. They assumed that acoustic detections of red bats identified as Acknowledgements.—We especially thank K Khidas, L. borealis by Fenton and others (1983) were Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa for providing actually L. blossevillii. No acoustic files are photographs of the Skagit specimen and a skin sample for DNA sequencing. DNA analysis was funded by available for analysis, as the detections of the British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Ter- Fenton and others (1983) were made with restrial Conservation Sciences Section. P Govindar- broadband microphones coupled with zero- ajulu assisted with funding and support for a crossing period meters and oscilloscope display. destructive sampling application. C Lausen provided Nonetheless, given that the Okanagan valley comments on a draft. Carcass searches and bat is situated approximately 110 km east of the monitoring at Bear Mountain were supported by Bear Skagit River, red bats in the Okanagan valley Mountain Wind Limited Partnership. WINTER 2012 GENERAL NOTES 237

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