Allen's yellow bat (''Rhogeessa alleni'') is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

vesper bat 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 famili ...

. There is some taxonomic debate surrounding this species, with some authors considering ''Baeodon'' a genus rather than a subgenus. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

Taxonomy and etymology

It was described as a new species in 1892 by British zoologist Oldfield Thomas. Thomas noted that the

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

for the

species name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bo ...

"''alleni''" was

Harrison Allen Harrison Allen (1841–1897) was an American physician and anatomist, born in Philadelphia. He graduated from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1861, and in 1862 became a surgeon in the United States Army and served ...

, calling him "the chief authority on North-American bats." In 1906, Gerrit Smith Miller Jr. placed Allen's yellow bat into a newly-coined genus, ''Baeodon''. At present, some authors keep Allen's yellow bat as part of ''Rhogeessa'' within the subgenus ''Baeodon'', while others believe that it is distinct enough that ''Baeodon'' should be considered a

monotypic genus In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

rather than a subgenus.

Description

It is a small species of bat, weighing only . It has large ears, with long tragi. The tragi are rounded at the tips, with a straight or slightly concave inner margin and a slightly convex outer margin. The posterior edges of its wings are white. It has a small and narrow

calcar The calcar, also known as the calcaneum, is the name given to a spur of cartilage arising from inner side of ankle and running along part of outer interfemoral membrane in bats, as well as to a similar spur on the legs of some arthropods. The ...

. The head and body is , while the tail is long. Its forearm length is . Its

dental formula Dentition pertains to the development of teeth and their arrangement in the mouth. In particular, it is the characteristic arrangement, kind, and number of teeth in a given species at a given age. That is, the number, type, and morpho-physiolog ...

is for a total of 30 teeth.

Range and habitat

It is

, with its range encompassing several states in southwest Mexico. It has been documented at a range of elevations, from above sea level. However, most records of this species are at elevations greater than above sea level. Its habitat consists of tropical deciduous forests, thorny forests, deciduous forests, and xeric shrublands.

Conservation

It is currently evaluated as

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. Th ...

by the IUCN—its lowest conservation priority. However, it is infrequently encountered and is considered rare or locally uncommon.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q618579 Bats of Mexico Endemic mammals of Mexico Least concern biota of Mexico Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas Mammals described in 1892 Rhogeessa Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN