The Free-tailed bats in the family Molossidae are generally quite robust and consist of many strong flying forms with relatively long and narrow wings. Another common usage of name for some of this group, and indeed a few species from other genera is Mastiff Bat. The Western Mastiff Bat, Eumops perotis, a large species from the southwestern United States and Mexico with wings almost two feet across is perhaps one of the best known with this name.
The family name is derived from a length of "free" tail exposed (usually best seen when resting). A special ring of cartilage slides up or down the tail vertebrae by muscular action to stretch or retract the skin membrane between it (the tail) and the supporting rear legs. This gives many species a degree of fine tuning in their flight maneuvers to rival their day flying ecological equivalents such as Swifts Apodidae and Swallows and Martins Hirundinidae.
There are sixteen genera and eighty five species in total:
Molossidae (including Tomopeatinae) is a diverse group of fast-flying aerial insectivores.
Monophyly of Molossidae (including Tomopeatinae) is stongly supported by morphological data (Simmons, 1998; Simmons and Geisler, 1998).
Phylogenetic relationships within Molossidae have been investigated using morphometrics (Freeman, 1981), discrete morphological characters (Legendre, 1984, 1985; Hand, 1990), allozymes (Sudman et al., 1994), and cytochrome b gene sequences (Sudman et al., 1994).
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