''Chaerephon'' (known as Chaerephon bats or lesser mastiff bats) is a
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 nom ...
of Old World
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 in the family Molossidae.
[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] Molecular sequence data indicates that ''Chaerephon'', ''
Mops
MOPS (3-(''N''-morpholino)propanesulfonic acid) is a buffer introduced in the 1960s, one of the twenty Good's buffers. It is a structural analog to MES, and like MES, its structure contains a morpholine ring. HEPES is a similar pH buffering ...
'' and ''
Tadarida
The genus ''Tadarida'' has 9 or more species of free-tailed bats divided into two subgenera, with the first of these containing seven species spread across the Old World (including southern Europe and North Africa, large parts of southern Asia, ...
'' are not
monophyletic taxa. The closest relatives of ''
Chaerephon jobimena'' of
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 ...
are ''
Tadarida aegyptiaca'' of Africa and southwest Asia, and ''
Tadarida brasiliensis
The Mexican free-tailed bat or Brazilian free-tailed bat (''Tadarida brasiliensis'') is a medium-sized bat native to the Americas, so named because its tail can be almost half its total length and is not attached to its uropatagium. It has been ...
'' of the Americas, which form a clade believed to be about 9.8 million years old. However, the grouping of ''Chaerephon'' minus ''C. jobimena'' plus ''Mops'' was found to be monophyletic.
Species within this genus are:
*''
Chaerephon atsinanana''
[Goodman, S. M., Buccas, W., Naidoo, T., Ratrimomanarivo, F., Taylor, P. J., & Lamb, J. (2010). Patterns of morphological and genetic variation in western Indian Ocean members of the Chaerephon'pumilus' complex (Chiroptera: Molossidae), with the description of a new species from Madagascar. Zootaxa, 2551(1), 1-36.]
*
Duke of Abruzzi's free-tailed bat, ''Chaerephon aloysiisabaudiae''
*
Ansorge's free-tailed bat, ''Chaerephon ansorgei''
*
Gland-tailed free-tailed bat, ''Chaerephon bemmeleni''
*
Spotted free-tailed bat
The spotted free-tailed bat (''Chaerephon bivittatus'') is a species of bat in the family Molossidae. It is found in Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Its nat ...
, ''Chaerephon bivittatus''
*
Fijian mastiff bat, ''Chaerephon bregullae''
*
Chapin's free-tailed bat, ''Chaerephon chapini''
*
Gallagher's free-tailed bat, ''Chaerephon gallagheri''
*
Northern freetail bat, ''Chaerephon jobensis''
*
Black and red free-tailed bat
''Mops 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),
Habitat
The known habitats of ...
, ''Chaerephon jobimena''
*
Northern free-tailed bat, ''Chaerephon johorensis''
*
Grandidier's free-tailed bat, ''Chaerephon leucogaster''
*
Lappet-eared free-tailed bat, ''Chaerephon major''
*
Nigerian free-tailed bat, ''Chaerephon nigeriae''
*
Wrinkle-lipped free-tailed bat
The wrinkle-lipped free-tailed bat (''Chaerephon plicatus'') is a species of bat in the family Molossidae.
It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philip ...
, ''Chaerephon plicatus''
*
Little free-tailed bat, ''Chaerephon pumilus''
*''
Chaerephon pusillus''
*
Russet free-tailed bat, ''Chaerephon russatus''
*
Solomons mastiff bat, ''Chaerephon solomonis''
*
São Tomé free-tailed bat, ''Chaerephon tomensis''
References
Molossidae
Bat genera
Taxa named by George Edward Dobson
{{Molossidae-stub