Davison's Mastiff Bat

Open encyclopedia reference

Promops davisoni is a species of free-tailed bat in the family Molossidae. It was first described by Oldfield Thomas in 1921. While thought of as a subspecies of the big crested mastiff bat (Promops centralis) by scientists from roughly 1966 to 2010, morphological and geographical differences between P. davisoni and P. centralis are sufficiently suggestive of another species. P. davisoni is small for its genus, with a forearm length of 47.6 to 52.0 millimetres (1.87 to 2.05 in), and is light or cinnamon brown with distinguishable white bands on its back. P. davisoni is native to the Andes mountain range in Ecuador and Peru. More recently, evidence has been found that P. davisoni resides in the Atacama Desert in Chile.

Wikipedia contributors, Promops davisoni; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T09:08:33.622833+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Promops davisoni Thomas, 1921

Name authority

Thomas, 1921

Common name

Davison's Mastiff Bat

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Chiroptera

Family

Molossidae

Genus

Promops

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. genusPromops Gervais, 1856
17. speciesPromops davisoni Thomas, 1921

Close classified relatives

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

Browse 93 records assigned to Molossidae.

Names & synonyms

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

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.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=946812 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:8PC5Y. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.