''Barbastella'' is a genus of vespertilionid bats. There are seven extant species in this
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
and one only known from fossil remains. It comes from the Latin "Barba" (meaning "beard") and "Stella" (meaning "star"), and refers to the clusters of stiff hairs that some bats of this genus have around their nostrils, which may resemble a beard or, perhaps, the arrangement of the rays of a star. Furthermore, the term "barbastello" is common for bats in northeastern Italy, (especially Ferrara and Bologna). This regional use of Italian could have influenced or been related to the choice of the scientific name, and interestingly, the Italian term "barbastello" is also believed to have originated from the Latin "vespertilio" the classical term for bat.
Species
The genus consists of the following species:
* ''
Barbastella barbastellus'' – western barbastelle
* ''
Barbastella beijingensis'' – Beijing barbastelle
* ''
Barbastella caspica'' – Caspian barbastelle
* ''
Barbastella darjelingensis'' – eastern barbastelle or Asian barbastelle
* ''
Barbastella leucomelas'' – Arabian barbastelle
* ''
Barbastella pacifica'' – Japanese barbastelle
* ''
Barbastella maxima''
References
External links
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Bat genera
Taxa named by John Edward Gray
{{Vespertilionidae-stub