Kalinowski's mastiff bat (''Mormopterus kalinowskii'') is a species of

bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most bi ...

in the family Molossidae, the free-tailed bats. It is native to

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

and northern

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. Relatively little is known about the species, but it is thought to be common in its range. It is sometimes seen in urban areas. Molecular sequencing data indicates that the closest relatives of ''M. kalinowski'' are members of another genus, ''

Nyctinomops ''Nyctinomops'' is a genus of bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats ...

''.

Taxonomy and etymology

It was described as a new species in 1893 by British zoologist

Oldfield Thomas Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas (21 February 1858 – 16 June 1929) was a British zoologist. Career Thomas worked at the Natural History Museum on mammals, describing about 2,000 new species and subspecies for the first time. He was appoin ...

. Thomas initially placed it in the now-defunct genus ''Nyctinomus'', with the scientific name ''Nyctinomus kalinowskii''. The

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

for the species name "''kalinowskii''" was

Jan Kalinowski Jan Kalinowski (17 May 1857 – June 1941) was a Polish explorer and collector of biological specimens who worked in Asia and South America. He was among the first Europeans to explore the fauna of the Korean Peninsula, collecting for the Branicki ...

, a Polish zoologist who immigrated to Peru. Thomas wanted to acknowledge Kalinowski's efforts in collecting the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

, saying that he was the collector "to whose labours we owe the valuable collection of small Mammals described in the present paper." By 1907, at least one author had reclassified ''N. kalinowskii'' into the genus ''

Mormopterus ''Mormopterus'' is a genus of molossid microchiropterans, small flying mammals referred to as free-tailed bats. The genus has been the subject of several revisions, and the diversity of taxa centred on Australia were separated to a new genus ''O ...

'', where it has consistently remained as ''Mormopterus kalinowskii''.

Description

It is a very small species of bat, with a forearm length of , a head and body length of , and a tail length of . Its fur is pale gray in color. Its ears are smaller than many other 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 ...

, and they are not conjoined. Its

dental formula Dentition pertains to the development of teeth and their arrangement in the mouth. In particular, it is the characteristic arrangement, kind, and number of teeth in a given species at a given age. That is, the number, type, and morpho-physiolo ...

is , for a total of 28 teeth.

Range and habitat

It has been documented in

and

Conservation

It is currently evaluated as

least-concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

—its lowest conservation priority. It meets the criteria for this assessment because its population is presumably large, and its habitat is not declining in extent or quality fast enough to qualify for more-threatened categories. Some of its range includes protected areas. It can tolerate some disturbance, and small populations have been found within cities.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1831449 Mormopterus Mammals of Chile Mammals of Peru Mammals described in 1893 Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas Bats of South America