First record of Lasiurus xanthinus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) in Texas

A mist-netting survey conducted in Big Bend National Park, Brewster Co., Texas, during 1996 and 1997 provided a distributional record for the western yellow bat (Lasiurus xanthinus) in Texas. Over both years, we captured two adult males and one-adult female at the same netting site in the fall. All three bats were collected over a spring along an intermittent stream dominated by cottonwood (Populus), acacia (Acacia), desert willow (Chilopsis linearis), and cattail (Typha), in desert lowland. We suggest that these bats are expanding,their range into the Big Bend region. The diet of one specimen included Hemiptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, and Orthoptera. We confirmed species identification with. diagnostic restriction sites in the mitochondrial 12S ribosomal RNA gene.