Food Habits of the Hoary Bat, Lasiurus cinereus, from Hawaii

There is relatively little food habit information on the hoary bat, L. cinereus (Beauvois), but what information is available indicates that it is mainly a moth feeder in North America. Because L. cinereus is the only species of bat in Hawaii, food partitioning would not be expected on theoretical grounds. One would expect a more varied diet than is found on the mainland. This study was undertaken to determine the food habits of L. cinereus in Hawaii. By orders, relative total use of food as indicated by decreasing percent volume was as follows: Coleoptera (25.3% of the total volume); Homoptera (17.8); Hemiptera (13.8); Lepidoptera (12.4); Isoptera (10.6); Diptera (8.4); Orthoptera (8.2); and Hymenoptera (0.4). L. cinereus in Hawaii is a generalized insectivorous feeder. It appears to subsist entirely on volant insects. There is no evidence of gleaning from foliage or from the ground.