NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Brown House Bat
Scotophilus nigrita (Schreber, 1774)
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.
Open encyclopedia reference
Schreber's yellow bat (Scotophilus nigrita) or the giant house bat, is a species of vesper bat. It is found in Benin, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, dry savanna, and moist savanna. It is an uncommon species and its biology is poorly known. It was first described in 1774 by the German naturalist Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber, who named it Vespertilio nigrita. It was later transferred to the genus Scotophilus, making it Scotophilus nigrita.
Wikipedia contributors, Schreber's yellow bat; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:05:28.045635+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Scotophilus nigrita (Schreber, 1774)
- Name authority
- (Schreber, 1774)
- Common name
- Brown House Bat
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Chiroptera
- Family
- Vespertilionidae
- Genus
- Scotophilus
- 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.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
- subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
- infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
- orderChiroptera Blumenbach, 1779
- suborderYangochiroptera Koopman, 1984
- superfamilyVespertilionoidea Gray, 1821
- familyVespertilionidae Gray, 1821
- subfamilyVespertilioninae Gray, 1821
- tribeScotophilini Hill & Harrison, 1987
- genusScotophilus Leach, 1821
- speciesScotophilus nigrita (Schreber, 1774)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Scotophilus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| African Yellow BatScotophilus dinganii (A. Smith, 1833) | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Common Yellow BatScotophilus heathii (Horsfield, 1831) | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Lesser Asiatic Yellow BatScotophilus kuhlii Leach, 1821 | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| White-bellied House BatScotophilus leucogaster (Cretzschmar, 1826) | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Livingstone's House BatScotophilus livingstonii Brooks & Bickham, 2014 | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Robust House BatScotophilus robustus A. Milne-Edwards, 1881 | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Malagasy Yellow BatScotophilus tandrefana Goodman, Jenkins & Ratrimomanarivo, 2005 | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Trujillo's House BatScotophilus trujilloi Brooks & Bickham, 2014 | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Eastern Greenish Yellow BatScotophilus viridis (Peters, 1852) | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Western Greenish House BatScotophilus nigritellus de Winton, 1899 | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Eritrean House BatScotophilus colias Thomas, 1904 | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Andrew Rebori's House BatScotophilus andrewreborii Brooks & Bickham, 2014 | VespertilionidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Vespertilio nigrita Schreber, 1774 Schreber, 1774 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
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.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=632153 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. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
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:4VY5Q. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.