''Taphozous'' is a genus of the family
Emballonuridae
Emballonuridae is a family of microbats, many of which are referred to as sac-winged or sheath-tailed bats. They are widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions around the world. The earliest fossil records are from the Eocene.
Descr ...
. The wide distribution of the genus includes several regions of Australia, Indonesia,
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 Africa. ''Taphozous'' comes from the Greek τάφος, meaning "a tomb". The common names for species include variants on sac-winged, sheathtail, or tomb bats.
The genus is the type for a grouping within the family, subfamily
Taphozoinae,
and an arrangement that describes two subgenera is as follows:
subgenus ''Taphozous'' (''Liponycteris'')
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Hamilton's tomb bat (''Taphozous hamiltoni'')
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Naked-rumped tomb bat (''Taphozous nudiventris'')
subgenus ''Taphozous'' (''Taphozous''),
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Indonesian tomb bat
The Indonesian tomb bat (''Taphozous achates'') is a species of sac-winged bat in the family Emballonuridae. It is found only in Indonesia.
Taxonomy
The Indonesian tomb bat was described as a new species in 1915 by British mammalogist Oldfield ...
(''Taphozous achates'')
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Coastal sheath-tailed bat (''Taphozous australis'')
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Common sheath-tailed bat (''Taphozous georgianus'')
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Hildegarde's tomb bat
Hildegarde's tomb bat (''Taphozous hildegardeae'') is a species of sac-winged bat in the family Emballonuridae. It is found near the coast in Kenya and Tanzania where it feeds in tropical dry forests and roosts in caves. It is a diurnal species a ...
(''Taphozous hildegardeae'')
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Hill's sheath-tailed bat (''Taphozous hilli'')
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Arnhem sheath-tailed bat
The Arnhem sheath-tailed bat, species (''Taphozous kapalgensis'') is an emballonurid bat found at the Top End of Australia. The species is also referred to as the white-striped sheathtail for the distinguishing marks at the flank, a feature obse ...
(''Taphozous kapalgensis'')
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Long-winged tomb bat
The long-winged tomb bat (''Taphozous longimanus'') is a species of sac-winged bat in the family Emballonuridae. It is found in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Thailand
Thailand ( ) ...
(''Taphozous longimanus'')
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Mauritian tomb bat (''Taphozous mauritianus'')
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Black-bearded tomb bat
The black-bearded tomb bat (''Taphozous melanopogon'') is a species of sac-winged bat found in South and South East Asia.
Taxonomy and etymology
It was described as a new species in 1841 by Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck. The holotype ...
(''Taphozous melanopogon'')
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Egyptian tomb bat (''Taphozous perforatus'')
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Theobald's tomb bat (''Taphozous theobaldi'')
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Troughton's sheath-tailed bat (''Taphozous troughtoni'')
The diversity of some species are recognised as subspecies. Some populations are poorly known, the species ''Taphozous hilli'' was not recognised amongst the population of the more common species ''Taphozous georgianus'' until 1980.
References
External links
Bat genera
Taxa named by Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
{{Emballonuridae-stub