Molossus (bat) explained

Molossus is a genus of bats. The genus contains ten species with a New World distribution from Mexico in the north to northern Argentina at its most southerly limit. Four of these species have distributions that include various islands in the West Indies such as Puerto Rico or Trinidad.

The genus belongs to a group commonly referred to as free-tailed bats. Its name is from the ancient Molossus breed of shepherd dog.^[1] __TOC__

Systematics

The following species are recognised:

• Molossus alvarezi
• Molossus aztecus Saussure, 1860^[2]
• Molossus coibensis Allen, 1904^[2]
• Molossus currentium Thomas, 1901^[2]
• Molossus molossus (Pallas, 1766)^[2]
• Molossus pretiosus Miller, 1902^[2]
• Molossus rufus E. Geoffroy, 1805^[2]
• Molossus sinaloae

Notes and References

1. The Mammals of the Southern African Sub-region by J. D. Skinner,, 2006, p. 277, "The name of the [free-tailed bats] family is derived from the Greek molossus, a kind of dog used by Greek shepherds in ancient times."
2. Louriero . Livia Oliviera. Gregorin . Renato. Perini . Fernando Araujo. 10.5252/zoosystema2018v40a18 . Diversity, morphological phylogeny, and distribution of bats of the genus Molossus E. Geoffroy, 1805 (Chiroptera, Molossidae) in Brazil.. Zoosystema . 452–425. 2018. 40. 92125667.