Kingdom Animalia Order Chiroptera Scientific name Mormopterus Rank Genus | Phylum Chordata Family Molossidae Higher classification Free-tailed bat | |
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Lower classifications Southern free‑tailed bat, Peter's wrinkle‑lipped bat, Kalinowski's mastiff bat, Little goblin bat, East‑coast free‑tailed bat | ||
Mormopterus bats like to play dead
The bat genus Mormopterus is one of 17 genera in the family Molossidae (free-tailed bats). The genus now comprises 18 extant species in four subgenera. The subgenus Mormopterus has seven species occurring in geographically disparate locations: three species from the west Indian Ocean region (Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands and possibly South Africa and Ethiopia), one species from western Indonesia (known from a single specimen from Sumatra) that appears to be related to the above three species; and three species from the neotropics (the western side of South America as far south as northern Chile, and Cuba). The subgenus Ozimops occurs in Indonesia (Halmahera, Ambon, Seram and West Papua), Papua New Guinea and Australia, and the two monotypic subgenera Micronomus and Setirostris are Australian endemics. While the species-level taxonomy has become better resolved, the integrity of the genus Mormopterus as it currently stands is less clear. Molecular sequencing data indicates that Mormopterus is paraphyletic. The closest relatives of M. kalinowski are members of Nyctinomops. Further phylogenetic work is required to resolve the relationships of the species’ groups from the three regional areas, and what their relationships are to other molossid genera.
The 18 species within four subgenera are:
In addition, Peters's flat-headed bat (Platymops setiger) and Roberts's flat-headed bat (Sauromys petrophilus) were once thought to belong to this genus.