The Patagonian bonneted bat (''Eumops patagonicus''), also called the Patagonian dwarf bonneted bat, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

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-fly ...

found in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

and

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

Taxonomy and etymology

It was described as a new species in 1924 by British zoologist

Oldfield Thomas Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas (21 February 1858 – 16 June 1929) was a British zoologist. Career Thomas worked at the Natural History Museum, London, Natural History Museum on mammals, describing about 2,000 new species and subspecies for ...

. Thomas had obtained the

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

from Argentinean-Italian scientist Roberto Dabbene, who worked in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

at the time. Its

species name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

"''patagonicus''" means "belonging to

Patagonia Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...

." The Patagonian bonneted bat was widely considered a subspecies of the dwarf bonneted bat (''Eumops bonariensis'') from approximately 1932 until the 1990s. Based on Gregorin ''et al.s 2016 classification, the Patagonian bonneted bat is a member of the ''bonariensis'' species group of the genus ''Eumops''. Other members include the dwarf bonneted bat, '' E. delticus'', and '' E. nanus''.

Description

It is a small member of its genus, with a forearm length of . Its head and body is ; its tail is long; its ears are long.

Range and habitat

Its range includes several countries in southern South America, including Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay.

Conservation

It is currently evaluated as

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

by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

—its lowest conservation priority. It meets the criteria for this assessment because it has a large range, its population size is likely large, and it is not thought to be in rapid population decline.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1833390 Eumops Mammals of Patagonia Mammals of Argentina Mammals of Bolivia Mammals of Paraguay Mammals described in 1924 Bats of South America Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas