The

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

''Tadarida'' has 9 or more 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 ...

s divided into two subgenera, with the first of these containing seven species spread across the

Old World The "Old World" is a term for Afro-Eurasia that originated in Europe , after Europeans became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia, which were previously thought of by th ...

(including southern

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

and

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in t ...

, large parts of southern

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...

, and

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

right across to Japan). Four species occur exclusively in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

including

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

while two more species occur in central

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

, and western and southern Australia, respectively. The relatively well-known species '' T. teniotis'', which occurs in southern Europe and North Africa, the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

, and across southern Asia to Japan, is known to fly often during the late afternoon, where it hawks for insects alongside swifts (

Apodidae The swifts are a family, Apodidae, of highly aerial birds. They are superficially similar to swallows, but are not closely related to any passerine species. Swifts are placed in the order Apodiformes with hummingbirds. The treeswifts are closely ...

), swallows, and martins (

Hirundinidae The swallows, martins, and saw-wings, or Hirundinidae, are a family of passerine songbirds found around the world on all continents, including occasionally in Antarctica. Highly adapted to aerial feeding, they have a distinctive appearance. The ...

). The other subgenus contains the widespread

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...

single species '' T. brasiliensis'' (subgenus ''Rhizomops''), which ranges from the southern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

and the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Great ...

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 eas ...

and

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

. This species is noted for its massive maternity colonies in the United States, especially in the southwest, where an estimated population of over 25 million (possibly as high as 50 million) existed in Eagle Creek Cave in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States. It is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th largest and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14 ...

in the 1960s.

Taxonomy

Molecular sequence data indicate ''Tadarida'' is not a

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic ...

taxon. The closest relative of '' Tadarida aegyptiaca'' of Africa and southwest Asia is ''

Chaerephon jobimena ''Chaerephon jobimena'', commonly known as the black and red free-tailed bat, is a species of bat in the family Molossidae. It is endemic to western Madagascar. With a forearm length of 45 to 48 mm (1.8 to 1.9 in), ''C. jobimena'' is somew ...

'' of

. These two species plus ''T. brasiliensis'' of the Americas form a clade believed to be about 9.8 million years old. The genus name ''Tadarida'' is attributed to the naturalist

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz (; October 22, 1783September 18, 1840) was a French 19th-century polymath born near Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire and self-educated in France. He traveled as a young man in the United States, ultima ...

, who gave no clues to its etymology.Heidt, G. A., Elrod, D. A., & McDaniel, V. R. (1996). Biogeography of Arkansas mammals with notes on species of questionable status. Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, 50(1), 60-65. It has been suggested that the name comes from the Corsican word for bat, ''taddarita.'' but no such word exists in the

Corsican language Corsican (''corsu'' , ; full name: ''lingua corsa'' , ) is a Romance language constituted by the continuum of the Italo-Romance dialects spoken on the Mediterranean island of Corsica (France) and on the northern end of the island of Sardinia ( ...

(where bat is called ''topu pinnutu''). Indeed, Rafinesque, being in

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for it ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, during its studies, probably took this name from Sicilian, where the bat is called ''taḍḍarita'', from

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

λαχταρίδα (lachtarida) Species list for genus: * '' Tadarida aegyptiaca'' - Egyptian free-tailed bat * '' Tadarida brasiliensis'' (now in subgenus ''Rhizomops'') - Mexican free-tailed bat or Brazilian free-tailed bat * †''

Tadarida constantinei ''Tadarida constantinei'', Constantine's free-tailed bat, is a prehistoric bat species whose remains have been found in Carlsbad Caverns National Park Carlsbad Caverns National Park is an American national park in the Guadalupe Mountains of so ...

'' - Constantine's free-tailed bat * ''

Tadarida fulminans The Madagascan large free-tailed bat (''Tadarida fulminans'') is a species of bat in the family Molossidae. It is found in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Its nat ...

'' - Madagascan large free-tailed bat * ''

Tadarida latouchei The La Touche's free-tailed bat (''Tadarida latouchei'') is a species of bat in the family Molossidae. It is found in China, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated ...

'' - La Touche's free-tailed bat * ''

Tadarida lobata The Kenyan big-eared free-tailed bat (''Tadarida lobata'') is a species of bat in the family Molossidae. It is found in Kenya and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitat is dry savanna. References Tadarida Taxonomy articles created by Polbot ...

'' - Kenyan big-eared free-tailed bat * '' Tadarida teniotis'' European free-tailed bat * ''

Tadarida insignis The East Asian free-tailed bat (''Tadarida insignis'') was formerly considered to belong to the same species as the European free-tailed bat. Its range includes China, Japan, and the Korean Peninsula. Taxonomy It was described as a new species ...

'' - East Asian free-tailed bat * ''

Tadarida ventralis The African giant free-tailed bat (''Tadarida ventralis''), or African free-tailed bat is a species of bat in the family Molossidae. It is found in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan ...

'' - African giant free-tailed bat

References

* http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/classification/Tadarida.html#Tadarida {{Taxonbar, from=Q607105 Bat genera Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque