Railer bat

Railer bat
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Chiroptera
Family: Molossidae
Genus: Mops
Species:
M. thersites
Binomial name
Mops thersites
(Thomas, 1903)
Synonyms
  • Nyctinomus thersites Thomas, 1903
  • Tadarida thersites Thomas, 1903

The Railer bat (Mops thersites) is a species of bat in the family Molossidae. It is found in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Uganda. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.

One of the unique features of the Molossolid bats such as the railer bat is that they have two sets of parotid glands. This is uncommon as most species of bats have two sets of submandibular glands.[2]

  1. ^ Monadjem, A.; Fahr, J.; Bergmans, W.; Mickleburgh, S.; Hutson, A.M.; Juste, J. (2017). "Mops thersites". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T13849A22077236. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-2.RLTS.T13849A22077236.en. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  2. ^ Tandler, Bernard; Nagato, Toshikazu; Phillips, Carleton J. (1998). "Ultrastructure of the binary parotid glands in the Free-tailed bat, Tadarida thersites. II. Accessory parotid gland". The Anatomical Record. 251 (1): 122–135. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-0185(199805)251:1<122::AID-AR17>3.0.CO;2-Q. PMID 9605228.