''Eumops ferox'', the fierce bonneted bat or the chestnut mastiff bat, is a species of

free-tailed bat The Molossidae, or free-tailed bats, are a family of bats within the order Chiroptera. The Molossidae is the fourth-largest family of bats, containing about 110 species as of 2012. They are generally quite robust, and consist of many strong-flyi ...

found in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. Until recently, it was synonymous with

Wagner's bonneted bat Wagner's bonneted bat or Wagner's mastiff batBest, T. L., et al. (1997)''Eumops glaucinus''. ''Mammalian Species'' 551, 1-6. (''Eumops glaucinus''), is a species of bat in the family Molossidae. It is found in the Americas from Argentina and Peru ...

Taxonomy and etymology

It was described as a new species in 1861 by Cuban naturalist

Juan Gundlach Juan Cristóbal Gundlach (17 July 1810 in Marburg – 14 March 1896 in Havana), born Johannes Christoph Gundlach was a Cuban naturalist and taxonomist. Biography Gundlach graduated from Marburg University, where his father was professor of phys ...

. Gundlach initially placed it in the genus '' Molossus'', with the name ''Molossus ferox''. It has been considered

synonymous A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

with

, ''Eumops glaucinus''. It was generally recognized as synonymous with Wagner's bonneted bat until a 2008 study concluded that Wagner's bonneted bat was actually a

species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

that should be broken into four species: ''Eumops ferox'', the

Florida bonneted bat The Florida bonneted bat or Florida mastiff bat (''Eumops floridanus'') is a species of bat in the genus ''Eumops'', the bonneted bats or mastiff bats. Until recently, it was classified as a subspecies of Wagner's bonneted bat (''Eumops glaucinu ...

, '' E. wilsoni'', and Wagner's bonneted bat. Its

species name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

"'' ferox''" is of

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

origin meaning "ferocious" or "fierce." When handling an individual in Jamaica,

Philip Henry Gosse Philip Henry Gosse FRS (; 6 April 1810 – 23 August 1888), known to his friends as Henry, was an English naturalist and populariser of natural science, an early improver of the seawater aquarium, and a painstaking innovator in the study of ma ...

remarked the following:

Systematics

''E. ferox'' is very closely related to the

, ''Eumops floridanus''. The two have a very small

genetic distance Genetic distance is a measure of the genetic divergence between species or between populations within a species, whether the distance measures time from common ancestor or degree of differentiation. Populations with many similar alleles have sma ...

of 0.013. One analysis using

mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial D ...

showed that the population of ''E. ferox'' in Cuba was more closely related to ''E. floridanus'' than it was to the ''E. ferox'' in Central America. Authors of another paper hypothesized that ''E. ferox'' and ''E. floridanus'' were so closely related because their recent divergence caused

incomplete lineage sorting Incomplete lineage sorting, also termed hemiplasy, deep coalescence, retention of ancestral polymorphism, or trans-species polymorphism, describes a phenomenon in population genetics when ancestral gene copies fail to coalesce (looking backwards i ...

Description

This is the species of bat that

referred to as the chestnut mastiff bat in his 1851 book, ''A Naturalist's Sojourn in Jamaica''. Its ears are so large that they hang over its face. It has long, narrow wings. Like other members of its genus, it has a gular-thoracic gland, with the glands of the males producing a "very rank odour." Its ears are hairless, while its toes have long, bristly hairs. From head to tail, it is . Its tail is long; its forearm is long. Individuals weigh approximately .

Biology

''E. ferox'' is a

nocturnal Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...

species, roosting in sheltered places during the day such as underneath roof shingles. These roosts will consist of multiple individuals, with one roost containing 15 individuals, as it is a

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

species. It emerges from its roost shortly after sunset to forage. It is

insectivorous A robber fly eating a hoverfly An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant that eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects. The first vertebrate insectivores were ...

. It is monoestrous, with a single annual

breeding season Seasonal breeders are animal species that successfully mate only during certain times of the year. These times of year allow for the optimization of survival of young due to factors such as ambient temperature, food and water availability, and cha ...

. Pregnant females have been documented April through June, while lactating females have been documented in June and July. The litter size is one young, called a pup. Most females give birth in late June, with lactation lasting 5–6 weeks.

Range and habitat

It is found in the

and

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q50380120 Mammals described in 1861 Taxa named by Juan Gundlach Bats of the Caribbean Bats of Mexico Eumops