Tadarida

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Tadarida

Tadarida brasiliensis

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Chiroptera
Family:	Molossidae
Genus:	Tadarida Rafinesque, 1814

The genus Tadarida has eight species of bats divided into two subgenera, with the first of these containing seven species spread across the Old World (including southern Europe and North Africa, large parts of southern Asia, and India right across to Japan). Four species occour exclusively in Africa including Madagascar while two more species occur in central Papua New Guinea, and western and southern Australia respectively.

The relatively well known species T. teniotis, which occurs in southern Europe and North Africa, the Middle East and all the way across southern Asia to Japan, is known to fly often during the late afternoon where it will hawk for insects alongside swifts (Apodidae), swallows and martins Hirundinidae.

The Australian species T. australis is the largest in the genus, with a head and body length of 85-100 mm, and a tail length of 40-55 mm.^[1]

The other subgenus contains the widespread New World single species T. brasiliensis (Subgenus Rhizomops) which ranges from the southern United States including the West Indies all the way down to Chile and Argentina. This species is noted for its massive maternity colonies in the United States especially in the southwest where an estimated population of + 25 million (possibly as high as 50 million) existed in Eagle Creek Cave in Arizona in the 1960s.

Species list for genus: