''Vespertilio'' is a genus of bats in the family

Vespertilionidae Vespertilionidae is a family of microbats, of the order Chiroptera, flying, insect-eating mammals variously described as the common, vesper, or simple nosed bats. The vespertilionid family is the most diverse and widely distributed of bat familie ...

. The common name for this family is vesper bats, which is a better-known classification than ''Vespertilio''. They are also known as frosted bats. Species within the genus ''Vespertilio'' are: * Parti-coloured bat, ''Vespertilio murinus'' * Asian parti-coloured bat, ''Vespertilio sinensis''

History

''Vespertilio'' is the oldest accepted genus name for bats. When ''Vespertilio'' was described in 1758, it was equivalent to the modern taxonomic order, encompassing all of

Chiroptera 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 ...

(all bats), which

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...

grouped with the primates due to certain characteristics mentioned by Linnaeus that bats seemed to share with actual primates. The second chiropteran genus, ''

Pteropus ''Pteropus'' (suborder Yinpterochiroptera) is a genus of megabats which are among the largest bats in the world. They are commonly known as fruit bats or flying foxes, among other colloquial names. They live in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Aust ...

'', was described four years later in 1762. ''Vespertilio'', as the oldest genus name, is thus the

type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearing type of a nominal ...

of the family

, which was not described until 1821. Variably, until 1779, ''Vespertilio'' was considered either the only chiropteran genus, or one of two, including ''Pteropus''. It was considered by some to be the only genus of bats until as late as 1817.

References

*D.E. Wilson & D.M. Reeder, 2005: Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. Third Edition. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD. Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Bat genera {{Vespertilionidae-stub