Coiban mastiff bat

The Coiban mastiff bat (Molossus coibensis) is a small insect-eating bat belonging to the free-tailed bat family Molossidae, the same family as the other mastiff bats of the genus Molossus. The species was described by the American zoologist Joel Asaph Allen in 1904. It has a wide but patchy range in the Neotropics, running from Chiapas in southern Mexico south to Mato Grosso in Brazil, and taking in Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Panama, Costa Rica and El Salvador. It lives in a variety of forest habitats and is recorded from near sea level up to about 1300 metres above it. The taxonomic status of its populations in Central America is uncertain, which means the limits of the species there are still being worked out. The International Union for Conservation of Nature assessed the species as Least Concern in 2017.