The genus ''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 the ...

(including southern Europe and North Africa, large parts of southern Asia, and India right across to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

). Four species occur exclusively in Africa including Madagascar while two more species occur in central Papua New Guinea, and western and southern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, respectively. The relatively well-known species '' T. teniotis'', which occurs in southern Europe and North Africa, the Middle East, and across southern Asia to Japan, is known to fly often during the late afternoon, where it hawks for insects alongside swifts ( Apodidae), swallows, and martins ( Hirundinidae). The other subgenus contains the widespread New World single species '' T. brasiliensis'' (subgenus ''Rhizomops''), which ranges from the southern United States and the West Indies to Chile and Argentina. 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 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 gro ...

taxon. The closest relative of ''

Tadarida aegyptiaca The Egyptian free-tailed bat, also known as Egyptian guano bat or Egyptian nyctinome, (''Tadarida aegyptiaca'') is a species of bat in the family Molossidae. Description The Egyptian free-tailed bat has fine, dense fur which is greyish brown, sh ...

'' 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 somewh ...

'' of Madagascar. 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, ultimat ...

, 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 (Ita ...

(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 (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

, Sicily, during its studies, probably took this name from Sicilian, where the bat is called ''taḍḍarita'', from Greek λαχταρίδα (lachtarida) Species list for genus: * ''

'' - 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 The European free-tailed bat (''Tadarida teniotis'', sometimes given as ''Tadarida insignis'') is a species of free-tailed bat found in the Old World. Other common names include the bulldog bat and the mastiff bat because of the presence of wrink ...

'' European free-tailed bat * '' Tadarida insignis'' - 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