Florida Bonneted Bat

About the Florida Bonneted Bat

The Florida bonneted bat or Florida mastiff bat (Eumops floridanus) is a species of bat in the genus Eumops, the bonneted bats or mastiff bats. Until recently, it was classified as a subspecies of Wagner's bonneted bat (Eumops glaucinus). It is endemic to southern Florida in the United States.

This species has one of the smallest geographical distributions of any New World bat. It has been called "one of the most critically endangered mammal species in North America". It is protected under the Endangered Species Act.

The earliest bonneted bat fossil was discovered in 1922 in Melbourne, Florida. The fossil consisted of a preserved jawbone that dated back to the Pleistocene; its similarity to genera Eumops and Molossus was noted, but it was initially placed into a new genus, Molossides, due to what appeared to be a unique dental formula. The fossil was reclassified into the genus Eumops in 1963 on the belief that the original fossil did not show a bat with a single lower incisor, but rather the fossil jaw was missing an incisor and the species actually had two lower incisors.

A live bonneted bat was first recorded in Florida in 1936, from an individual collected from a... Wikipedia →