Systematics of the emballonurid bats (Emballonuridae) of the Old World

The family Emballonuridae is one of 18 families of the order Chiroptera and is characterized by a slender tail, which perforates the interfemoral membrane on its dorsal side and in the half of its lenght. Another important character is an absence of the phalangi on the second digit of the hand (wing), where remains only a well-developed metacarpal. Some species are also characterized by a radio-metacarpal pouch and a gular sac, both associated with a gland. Representatives of this family are distributed around the world in the circum-equatorial band of areas. The family is divided to two subfamilies, Taphozoinae and Emballonurinae. Together, these subfamilies contain 14 genera and 49 species. In accordance with their geographic distribution, subfamily Emballonurinae is divided to two tribes, Emballonurini and Diclidurini. Representatives of the tribe Diclidurini occur solely in the New World, while the bats of the tribe Emballonurini live only in the Old World. In the latter region, there could also be found represenatives of the subfamily Taphozoinae that includes two genera, Taphozous and Saccolaimus. The tribe Emballonurini includes four genera: Coleura, Emballonura, Mosia, and Paremballonura and the remaining eight genera of the subfamily belong to the tribe Diclidurini. In the Palaearctic region only..