The

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 ...

''Tadarida'' has nine or more species of

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 ...

s divided into two subgenera, with the first of these containing seven species spread across the

Old World The "Old World" () is a term for Afro-Eurasia coined by Europeans after 1493, when they became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia in the Eastern Hemisphere, previously ...

(including southern

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

, large parts of southern

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, and

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

right across to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

). Four species occur exclusively in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

including

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

while two more species occur in central

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

, and western and southern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, respectively. The relatively well-known species '' T. teniotis'', which occurs in southern Europe and North Africa, the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

, and across southern Asia to Japan, is known to fly often during the late afternoon, where it hawks for insects alongside swifts (

Apodidae The Apodidae, or swifts, form a family of highly aerial birds. They are superficially similar to swallows, but are not closely related to any passerine species. Swifts are placed in the order Apodiformes along with hummingbirds. The treeswifts ar ...

), swallows, and martins (

Hirundinidae The swallows, martins, and saw-wings, or Hirundinidae are a family of passerine songbirds found around the world on all continents, including occasionally in Antarctica. Highly adapted to aerial feeding, they have a distinctive appearance. The t ...

). The other subgenus contains the widespread

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

single species '' T. brasiliensis'' (subgenus ''Rhizomops''), which ranges from the southern

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

and

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 ...

. This species is noted for its massive maternity colonies in the United States, especially in the southwest, where an estimated population of over 25 million (possibly as high as 50 million) existed in Eagle Creek Cave in

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

in the 1960s.

Taxonomy

Molecular sequence data indicate ''Tadarida'' is not a

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

taxon. The closest relative of '' Tadarida aegyptiaca'' of Africa and southwest Asia is '' Chaerephon jobimena'' of

. These two species plus ''T. brasiliensis'' of the Americas form a clade believed to be about 9.8 million years old. The genus name ''Tadarida'' is attributed to the naturalist

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz (; 22 October 178318 September 1840) was a French early 19th-century polymath born near Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire and self-educated in France. He traveled as a young man in the United States, ult ...

, who gave no clues to its etymology.Heidt, G. A., Elrod, D. A., & McDaniel, V. R. (1996). Biogeography of Arkansas mammals with notes on species of questionable status. Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, 50(1), 60-65. It has been suggested that the name comes from the Corsican word for bat, ''taddarita.'' but no such word exists in the

Corsican language Corsican (, , or , ) is a Romance languages, Romance language consisting of the Dialect continuum, continuum of the Tuscan dialect, Tuscan Italo-Dalmatian languages, Italo-Dalmatian dialects spoken on the Mediterranean island of Corsica, a Singl ...

(where bat is called ''topu pinnutu''). Indeed, Rafinesque, being in

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

, during its studies, probably took this name from Sicilian, where the bat is called ''taḍḍarita'', from

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

λαχταρίδα (lachtarida) Species list for genus: * '' Tadarida aegyptiaca'' - Egyptian free-tailed bat * '' Tadarida brasiliensis'' (now in subgenus ''Rhizomops'') - Mexican free-tailed bat or Brazilian free-tailed bat * †'' Tadarida constantinei'' - Constantine's free-tailed bat * '' Tadarida fulminans'' - Madagascan large free-tailed bat * '' Tadarida insignis'' - East Asian free-tailed bat * '' Tadarida latouchei'' - La Touche's free-tailed bat * '' Tadarida lobata'' - Kenyan big-eared free-tailed bat * '' Tadarida teniotis'' European free-tailed bat * '' Tadarida ventralis'' - African giant free-tailed bat

References

* http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/classification/Tadarida.html#Tadarida {{Authority control Bat genera Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque