Expert: Jonathan Wright - 4/2/2004

Question
I am trying to nail down the exact number of bat families and species, and am coming across different information. Can you please tell me, as of 2004, if there are 18 or 19 recognized families. And also, the number of recognized species (I see everthing from about 900 ot 1,057).

Is there a recognized book or site that is updated and lists this information? Thank you in advance for  your help.

Answer
Dear Rae

Thanks for your question

I have looked at various sites, but, like you, there is no definative number of recognized species. I found figures ranging from 900-1,100. I would say that there are about 1,000 species, but that some of these require further study.
One of the main reasons for the confusion is that bats have only recently received the kind of study given to larger animals. I have books in which there is more space given to elephants than to all the bats. Fortunately, bats are becoming more popular. I am a member of the London Bat Group and the membershiop has increased greatly from only a few years ago. This means that more people are looking at bats and finding that some of them have not been classified correctly. For example, a few years ago there was only species of pipistrelle recognised in Britain - now there are three - the common pipistelle has been split into two species, each with different call patterns, while the Nathusiu's pipistrelle has been noted more often than was previously thought. If the number of British bats can change radiacally over the years, think of the impact on the world species. New species are being discovered, but, unfortunately, some species are only known from a few specimens. Experts disagree as to whether these species still exist, or whether they have become extinct. Also, little work has been done on whether bat populations are sufficiently differrent to be referred to different species, or whether two 'species' are really just races of one species.

One website which seemed quite good was: http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Chiroptera.html

As regards the number of families, this is usually recognised as 17. The classification below was taken from 'Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level' by Malcolm C McKenna and Susan K Bell, Columbia University Press, New York and was published in 1997. While I have some criticism with the classification of mammals in this book, it is useful for including extinct forms and linking them to living species.

I have only included recent families are included in this list.

Grandorder ARCHONTA
  Order CHIROPTERA
     Suborder MEGACHIROPTERA
       Family Pteropodidae (fruit bats)
        Suborder MICROCHIROPTERA
  Family Emballonuridae (sheath-tailed bats)
          Infraorder YINOCHIROPTERA
           Superfamily Rhinopomatoidea
  Family Rhinopomatidae (mouse-tailed bats)
  Family Craseonycteridae (hog-nosed bat)
          Superfamily Rhinolophoidea
       Family Megadermatidae (Old World false vampires)
  Family Nycteridae (slit-faced bats)
       Family Rhinolophidae (horseshoe and leaf-              nosed bats)
          Infarorder YANGOCHIROPTERA
  Family Mystacinidae (short-tailed bats)
            Superfamily Noctilionoidea
  Family Noctilionidae (bulldog bats)
  Family Mormoopidae (moustached bats)
       Family Phyllostomatidae (American leaf-nosed bats)
            Superfamily Vespertilionoidea
  Family Molossidae (free-tailed bats)
  Family Natalidae (funnel-eared bats)
  Family Furipteridae (smoky bats)
  Family Thyropteridae (disc-winged bats)
  Family Myzopodidae (sucker-footed bat)
  Family Vespertilionidae (vesper bats)
There are 17 families here.

Please note the following discrepancies from some books:
1. The Family Mormoopidae was formerly incorporated within the Phyllostomatidae
2. The Family Rhinolophidae is sometimes split into two families - the Rhinolophidae (Horseshoe bats) and Hipposideridae (Old World leaf-nosed bats), as in the Sixth Edition of Walker's Mammals of the World by Ronald M Novak (1999), John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London.
3. Vampires were included in their own family, Desmodontidae, but are now usually included within the family Phyllostomatidae.

A new book listing mammal species of the world is due to be published in April. I have yet to see this book, but if you want to e-mail me in a month or so, I hope to be able to give you a more up to date figure for the number of species and families of bats.

I'm sorry that I cannot give you an exact answer to your question, but I hope hat I have given you some ideas about why there is little agrrement about this subject.

All the best

Jonathan