Rhogeessa is a genus of bats within the vesper bats family, Vespertilionidae.[1]
Rhogeessa | |
---|---|
Yucatan yellow bat (Rhogeessa aeneus) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Chiroptera |
Family: | Vespertilionidae |
Tribe: | Antrozoini |
Genus: | Rhogeessa H. Allen, 1866 |
Type species | |
Rhogeessa tumida H. Allen, 1866 | |
Species | |
See text |
Species
- Yucatan yellow bat (R. aenea)
- Bickham's little yellow bat (Rhogeessa bickhami)
- Genoways's yellow bat (R. genowaysi)
- Husson's yellow bat (R. hussoni)
- Thomas's yellow bat (R. io)
- Menchu's little yellow bat (R. menchuae)
- Tiny yellow bat (R. minutilla)
- Least yellow bat (R. mira)
- Little yellow bat (R. parvula)
- Rhogeessa permutandis
- Black-winged little yellow bat (R. tumida)
- Ecuadorian little yellow bat (R. velilla)
Taxonomy debate
This genus is systematically complex and sometimes controversial. One reason that the genus is complex is because of the species' variable karyotypes:[2]
30 chromosomes | 32 chromosomes | 34 chromosomes | 42 chromosomes | 44 chromosomes | 52 chromosomes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
R. io[3] | R. aeneus[4] | R. tumida*[5] | R. genowaysi[6][7] | R. parvula[8][9] | R. hussoni[3] |
R. tumida*[10] | - | R. velilla[2] | - | R. tumida*[10] | |
R. gracilis[11] | - | - | - | - | - |
R. tumida*[10] | - | - | - | - | - |
*Note that R. tumida is listed four times, as individuals have been found with four different karyotypes. This may represent a species complex.[10][2]
Some have placed Allen's yellow bat into its own genus, Baeodon based on its differences with other members of the genus.[12]However, others argue that as Allen's yellow bat and the slender yellow bat are sister taxa, to exclude only one from Rhogeessa makes it a paraphyletic group. By that logic, either both species need to be included in Rhogeessa, or both need to be placed in Baeodon.[2] A 2008 paper recommended moving the slender yellow bat to the Baeodon genus.[2] Others say that Baeodon should be recognized as a subgenus of Rhogeessa instead of as a separate genus.[9][13]