Mongalla free-tailed bat

The Mongalla free-tailed bat (Mops demonstrator) is a species of bat in the family Molossidae. It is found in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Sudan, and Uganda. Its natural habitats are dry savanna, moist savanna, and subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland.

Mongalla free-tailed bat
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Chiroptera
Family:	Molossidae
Genus:	Mops
Species:	M. demonstrator
Binomial name
Mops demonstrator Thomas, 1903
Synonyms
Nyctinomus demonstrator Thomas, 1903[2] Tadarida demonstrator (Thomas, 1903)[1] Mops faradjius J. A. Allen, 1917[2] Chaerephon demonstrator (Thomas, 1903)[3]

Taxonomy and systematics

The Mongalla free-tailed bat was first described as Nyctinomus demonstrator by the British mammalogist Oldfield Thomas in 1903 on the basis of an adult male specimen collected from Mongalla, South Sudan.^[4] It was moved to the genus Tadarida in 1914 when Nyctinomus was lumped with the former by Marcus Ward Lyon Jr.^[5] In 1983, Patricia Freeman raised Mops from a subgenus within Tadarida to a full genus and included the Mongalla free-tailed bat within it.^[6] The species is also called the Mongalla mops bat and Mongallan mops bat.^[1] It has no recognized subspecies.^[7]

Within its genus, the Mongalla free-tailed bat is placed in the subgenus Mops. Within the genus, it is most closely related to the white-bellied free-tailed bat, which has sometimes been treated as a subspecies of the present species.^[7] Its relationship to other species in the genus are unclear, with a 2015 morphological study by Renato Gregorin and Andrea Cirranello finding relationships within Mops to be uncertain.^[8]

Status

The Mongalla free-tailed bat is listed as being of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. However, its population is currently thought to be decreasing. It occurs in some protected areas, such as the Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is threatened by habitat loss caused by the cutting of large trees it roosts in, along with desertification in the north of its range.^[1]

References

1. Monadjem, A.; Cotterill, F.P.D.; Bergmans, W.; Mickleburgh, S.; Hutson, A.M.; Fahr, J. (2017). "Mops demonstrator". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T13840A22075708. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-2.RLTS.T13840A22075708.en. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
2. Van Cakenberghe, Victor; Seamark, Ernest (2021). Van Cakenberghe, Victor; Seamark, Ernest (eds.). "African Chiroptera Report 2021" (PDF). African Chiroptera Report. Pretoria: AfricanBats NPC: 3102, 3105. doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.21262.28481. ISSN 1990-6471.
3. "Taxon Details | Chaerephon demonstrator". MCZbase. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
4. Thomas, Oldfield (1903). "Three new species of Nyctinomus". The Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 7. 12. London: Taylor and Francis: 504–505. doi:10.1080/00222930308678887 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
5. Lyon Jr., Marcus Ward (1914). "Tadarida Rafinesque versus Nyctinomus Geoffroy". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 27. Washington: Biological Society of Washington: 217–218 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
6. Freeman, Patricia (1981-03-31). "A multivariate study of the family Molossidae (Mammalia, Chiroptera): morphology, ecology, evolution". Fieldiana. 7. Field Museum of Natural History: 36. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.3128. OCLC 7418396 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
7. Jakob, Fahr (2013). "Tadarida demonstrator Mongalla free-tailed bat". In Happold, Meredith; Happold, David (eds.). Mammals of Africa: Hedgehogs, Shrews and Bats. Vol. 4. London: A&C Black. pp. 509–511. ISBN 978-1-4081-2251-8. OCLC 822025146.
8. Gregorin, Renato; Cirranello, Andrea (2016). "Phylogeny of Molossidae Gervais (Mammalia: Chiroptera) inferred by morphological data". Cladistics. 32 (1): 2–35. doi:10.1111/cla.12117. ISSN 0748-3007. PMID 34732020.