The Mexican dog-faced bat (''Cynomops mexicanus'') is a

bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most bi ...

species of the family Molossidae from

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

. It is found from Nayarit in

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 Guatema ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

at elevations up to 1500 m. It was formerly considered a subspecies of '' C. greenhalli''. It roosts in

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

and

evergreen forest An evergreen forest is a forest made up of evergreen trees. They occur across a wide range of climatic zones, and include trees such as conifers and holly in cold climates, eucalyptus, Live oak, acacias, magnolia, and banksia in more temperate zone ...

, and is usually found near small bodies of water.

Taxonomy and etymology

It was described as a subspecies of Greenhall's dog-faced bat (''Cynomops greenhalli'') in 1967 by Jones and Genoways. At the time, Greenhall's dog-faced bat was in the genus '' Molossops'', so the Mexican dog-faced bat initially had the trinomen ''Molossops greenhalli mexicanus''. When ''Cynomops'' was recognized as a valid genus rather than a subgenus of ''Molossops'', Greenhall's dog-faced bat became part of the new genus. However, it wasn't until 2002 that the Mexican dog-faced bat was promoted to full species status. It is the most

basal Basal or basilar is a term meaning ''base'', ''bottom'', or ''minimum''. Science * Basal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location for features associated with the base of an organism or structure * Basal (medicine), a minimal level that is nec ...

member of ''Cynomops''. Its species name "'' mexicanus''" is Latin meaning "from Mexico."

Description

It is a relatively large

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 ...

. Total length is ; forearms and tails are and long, respectively. It weighs . Fur color is dark brown or reddish brown overall, but lighter on the stomach.

Biology

It is

nocturnal Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...

, and roosts in sheltered places during the day such as inside hollow trees.

References

External links

An image of this species
{{Taxonbar, from=Q751313 Cynomops Mammals described in 1967