page_title: Pallid bat
section_title: Ecology
hierarchical_section_title: Pallid bat / Ecology
caption_attribution_description: English: A colony of roosting Pallid Bats (Antrozous pallidus) at Madera Canyon, Santa Rita Mountains, southeastern Arizona.
context_page_description: The pallid bat is a species of bat that ranges from western Canada to central Mexico. It is the sole species of its genus and is closely related to Van Gelder's bat, which is sometimes included in Antrozous. Although it has in the past been placed in its own subfamily or even family, it is now considered part of the subfamily Vespertilioninae and the tribe Antrozoini.
context_section_description: Pallid bats are typically found in arid or semi-arid habitats, often in mountainous or rocky areas near water. They are also found over open, sparsely vegetated grasslands. During the day time, pallid bats typically roost in cracks and crevices, which may include tile roofs, exfoliating bark of trees, or rocky outcrops. During the night, this species will often use a night roost that is closer to their foraging grounds than their day roost. A night roost is usually less protected than a day roost; open porches may be used as night roosts by this species. In the winter time, this species may dip into shallow bouts of torpor, often in buildings, caves, or cracks in rocks.
  Pallid bats are insectivores that feed on arthropods such as crickets, and are capable of consuming up to half their weight in insect every night. Pallid bats are gleaners, capturing prey from the ground and transporting it to their night roost for consumption. When foraging, pallid bats typically fly at low heights of 1–2 m off the ground.
  Pallid bats most notably consume Arizona bark scorpions, which are the most venomous scorpions in North America: their stings can be fatal to humans.
  Pallid bats were found to have one or more missense mutations that substitute amino acids in their voltage-gated sodium channels, which may be responsible for their resistance to scorpion venom. Although pallid bats are primarily insectivores, they exhibit some flexibility in their diet when seasonally feeding on Mexican columnar cacti (particularly cardón cactus) nectar in spring, and even cactus fruit in summer. Pallid bats are also more effective pollinators than some of the nectarivorous bats with whom they compete for cacti.
  Pallid bats are a unique bat species because they are heterothermic, meaning they can be either poikilothermic or homoeothermic depending on the time of year. They have the ability to control their body temperature and equilibrate it with the environment during winter hibernation and whenever they rest.
  Pallid bat size varies greatly depending on their habitat. Bats in areas of low primary productivity, such as the desert, tend to be smaller due to less availability of resources. The bats that reside in areas with more primary productivity, such as coastal regions tend to be on the larger side. Larger pallid bats also have craniums that allow them to eat larger, harder prey more easily.
caption: A colony of roosting A. pallidus at Madera Canyon, Santa Rita Mountains, southeastern Arizona
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