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NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD

Railer Bat

Mops (Xiphonycteris) thersites (Thomas, 1903)

Source-backed taxonomic record

Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.

The railer bat, Mops thersites; Described in text as Mops occipitalis, though these names are now recognized as synonymous

The railer bat, Mops thersites; Described in text as Mops occipitalis, though these names are now recognized as synonymous

Allen, J. A., Lang, H., & Chapin, J. P. · Public domain · Image source

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Open encyclopedia reference

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.

Wikipedia contributors, Railer bat; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T01:52:06.615378+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name
Mops (Xiphonycteris) thersites (Thomas, 1903)
Name authority
(Thomas, 1903)
Common name
Railer Bat
Rank
species
Accepted status
accepted
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Mammalia
Order
Chiroptera
Family
Molossidae
Genus
Mops
Extinction status
Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

  1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
  2. kingdomAnimalia
  3. phylumChordata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. infraphylumGnathostomata
  6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
  7. megaclassTetrapoda
  8. classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
  9. subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
  10. infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
  11. orderChiroptera Blumenbach, 1779
  12. suborderYangochiroptera Koopman, 1984
  13. superfamilyVespertilionoidea Gray, 1821
  14. familyMolossidae Gervais, 1856
  15. subfamilyMolossinae Gervais, 1856
  16. genusMops Lesson, 1842
  17. subgenusXiphonycteris Dollman, 1911
  18. speciesMops (Xiphonycteris) thersites (Thomas, 1903)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Mops. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

SpeciesClassificationSource status
Short-winged Free-tailed BatMops (Xiphonycteris) brachypterus (Peters, 1852)MolossidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Angolan Free-tailed BatMops (Mops) condylurus (A. Smith, 1833)MolossidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Malagasy White-bellied Free-tailed BatMops (Mops) leucostigma (G. M. Allen, 1918)MolossidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Midas Free-tailed BatMops (Mops) midas (Sundevall, 1843)MolossidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Malayan Free-tailed BatMops (Mops) mops (de Blainville, 1840)MolossidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Dwarf Free-tailed BatMops (Xiphonycteris) nanulus J. A. Allen, 1917MolossidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Niangara Free-tailed BatMops (Mops) niangarae J. A. Allen, 1917MolossidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
White-bellied Free-tailed BatMops (Mops) niveiventer Cabrera & Ruxton, 1926MolossidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Congo Free-tailed BatMops (Mops) congicus J. A. Allen, 1917MolossidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Bakari's Free-tailed BatMops (Xiphonycteris) bakarii Stanley, 2008MolossidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Mongalla Free-tailed BatMops (Mops) demonstrator (Thomas, 1903)MolossidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Peterson's Free-tailed BatMops (Xiphonycteris) petersoni (El Rayah, 1981)MolossidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant

Browse 93 records assigned to Molossidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Recorded nameSource status
Nyctinomus thersites Thomas, 1903 Thomas, 1903synonym

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Africa

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

  1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=632232 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:44BS7. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.