• Austronomus Troughton, E. le G. 1941. Furred Animals of Australia. 1st edn. Sydney : Angus & Robertson xxvii 374 pp. 25 pls. [360].

  Type species:

   Molossus australis Gray, 1838 by monotypy.
• Austronomus Iredale, T. & Troughton, E. le G. 1934. A check-list of the mammals recorded from Australia. Memoirs of the Australian Museum 6: i-xii 1-122 [100] [nomen nudum].

  Type species:

   Nyctinomus (australis) atratus Thomas, 1924 by monotypy.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Jackson, S. & Groves, C. 2015. Taxonomy of Australian Mammals. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 520 pp. [258]

Introduction

Generic status following Gregorin & Cirranello (2015)

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Yalgoo (YAL)

General References

Ammerman, L. K., Lee, D. N. & Tipps, T. M. 2012. First molecular phylogenetic insights into the evolution of free-tailed bats in the subfamily Molossinae (Molossidae, Chiroptera). Journal of Mammalogy 93: 12–28

Gregorin, R. & Cirranello, A. 2015. Phylogeny of Molossidae Gervais (Mammalia: Chiroptera) inferred by morphological data. Cladistics 32(2016): 2–35

Reardon, T.B., McKenzie, N.L., Cooper, S.J.B., Appleton, B., Carthew, S. & Adams, M. 2014. A molecular and morphological investigation of species boundaries and phylogenetic relationships in Australian free-tailed bats Mormopterus (Chiroptera : Molossidae). Australian Journal of Zoology 62(2): 109–136

History of changes

• Molossus australis Gray, J.E. 1838. A revision of the genera of bats (Vespertilionidae), and the description of some new genera and species. Magazine of Zoology and Botany 2: 483-505 [501].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) BMNH 61.4.1.9 skin & skull, 'New South Wales'; Troughton (1941: 360) believes the 'original specimen' came from near the Camden home of Major Macarthur, NSW.

  Type locality references:

  Troughton, E. 1941. Furred Animals of Australia. Sydney : Angus & Robertson xxviii 374 pp. 25 pls.
• Nyctinomus albidus Leche, W. 1884. On some species of Chiroptera from Australia. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1884: 49-54 [publication date established from Duncan, F.M. 1937. On the dates of publication of the Society's 'Proceedings', 1859–1926. With an appendix containing the dates of publication of 'Proceedings', 1830–1858, compiled by the late F.H. Waterhouse, and of the 'Transactions', 1853–1869, by the late Henry Peavot, originally published in P.Z.S. 1893, 1913. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 107: 71–84 [74]] [50].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) NHRM A59/1883809.3144 ♀ skin (wet) skull not extracted, 'South Australia'; NHRM A59/1883809.3145 ♀ skin (wet) & skull (included), 'South Australia'.
• Nyctinomus australis atratus Thomas, O. 1924. A new subspecies of Nyctinomus australis. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 9 14: 455-456 [456].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH 24.8.4.8 ♂ skin & skull, Ooldea, SA.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Laurie, E.M.O. & Hill, J.E. 1954. List of Land Mammals of New Guinea, Celebes and Adjacent Islands 1758–1952. London : British Museum 175 pp. 3 pls. [63]
• Hill, J.E. 1961. Indo-Australian bats of the genus Tadarida. Mammalia 25: 29-56 [35]
• Jackson, S. & Groves, C. 2015. Taxonomy of Australian Mammals. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 520 pp. [258]

Generic Combinations

• Austronomus australis atratus (Thomas, 1924).
• Tadarida australis atratus (Thomas, 1924).
• Tadarida australis (J.E. Gray, 1838).
• Austronomus australis australis (J.E. Gray, 1838).
• Austronomus australis (J.E. Gray, 1838).
• Nyctinomus australis (J.E. Gray, 1838).
• Tadarida australis (J.E. Gray, 1838).

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Yalgoo (YAL)

Ecological Descriptors

Predator, treeholes, under bark.

Extra Ecological Information

Forages above canopy, roosts also in buildings in small groups or solitary, reported to forage on ground.

General References

Dwyer, P.D. 1965. Flight patterns of some eastern Australian bats. Victorian Naturalist 82: 36-41

Ellis, M. 1993. Unexplained behaviour in the white-striped mastiff-bat Tadarida australis. The Australian Zoologist 29: 103

Freeman, P.W. 1981. A multivariate study of the family Molossidae (Mammalia, Chiroptera): morphology, ecology, evolution. Fieldiana Zoology ns 7: i-viii 1-173

Hall, L.S. & Richards, G.C. 1973. Notes on Tadarida australis (Chiroptera: Molossidae). Australian Mammalogy 1: 46-47

Honacki, J.H., Kinman, K.E. & Koeppl, J.W. (eds) 1982. Mammal Species of the World: A taxonomic and geographic reference. Lawrence, Kansas : Allen Press & Assoc. Syst. Coll. ix 694 pp.

Kitchener, D.J. & Hudson, C.J. 1982. Reproduction in the female White-striped Mastiff bat, Tadarida australis (Gray) (Molossidae). Australian Journal of Zoology 30: 1-14

Koopman, K.F. 1982. Results of the Archbold Expeditions. No. 109 Bats from eastern Papua and the east Papuan Islands. American Museum Novitates 2747: 1-34

Koopman, K.F. 1984. Taxonomic and distributional notes on tropical Australian bats. American Museum Novitates 2778: 1-48

Laurie, E.M.O. & Hill, J.E. 1954. List of Land Mammals of New Guinea, Celebes and Adjacent Islands 1758–1952. London : British Museum 175 pp. 3 pls.

McKean, J.L. & Hamilton-Smith, E. 1967. Litter size and maternity sites in Australian bats (Chiroptera). Victorian Naturalist 84: 203-206

Oliveira, M.C. de 1998. Towards standardized descriptions of the echolocation calls of microchiropteran bats: pulse design terminology for seventeen species from Queensland. The Australian Zoologist 30: 405-411

Richards, G.C. 1995. White-striped Freetail-bat Nyctinomus australis. pp. 487-488 in Strahan, R. (ed.). The Mammals of Australia: The National Photographic Index of Australian Wildlife. Sydney : Reed New Holland 756 pp.

Common Name References

Clayton, M., Wombey, J.C., Mason, I.J., Chesser, R.T. & Wells, A. 2006. CSIRO List of Australian Vertebrates: A Reference with Conservation Status. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing iv 162 pp. [110] (White-striped Freetail-bat)

History of changes