Tadarida constantinei Lawrence, 1960
Constantine's free(-)tail bat
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Conservation Status
Extinct (Morgan & Czaplewski, 2025:305)
Last record: Late Pleistocene
Only persisted until the middle Pleistocene according to Morgan & Czaplewski (2025:305).
Distribution & Habitat
New Mexico, USA
Type locality: New Cave (now Slaughter Canyon Cave), Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Eddy County, New Mexico, USA
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Holotype: MCZ 49076 (cranium)
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Lawrence, Barbara. (1960). Fossil Tadarida from New Mexico. Journal of Mammalogy 41(3): 320-322. [Abstract]
Other references:
Baker, J. K. (1963). Fossilization of bat skeletons in the Carlsbad Caverns. National Speleological Society, Bulletin 25 (part 1):37-44.
Harris, Arthur H. (1993). Quaternary vertebrates of New Mexico, pp. 179-197. In: Vertebrate Paleontology in New Mexico, New Mexico Museum of Natural History, Bulletin 2:i-vii, 1-338.
Kottkamp, S., Santucci, V. L., Tweet, J. S., Horrocks, R. D., and Morgan, G. S. (2022). Pleistocene vertebrates from Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico. In: Morgan, G. S., Baskin, J. A., Czaplewski, N. J., McDonald, G. H., Mead, J. I., White, R. S., and Lichtig, A. J. (eds.). Late Cenozoic Vertebrates from the American Southwest: A Tribute to Arthur H. Harris: New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Bulletin 88: 267-283.
Lundberg, Joyce and McFarlane, Donald A. (2006). A minimum age for canyon incision and for the extinct molossid bat, Tadarida constantinei, from Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 68(3): 115-117.
Morgan, Gary S. (2002). Pleistocene vertebrate fossils from Slaughter Canyon Cave, Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Park Paleontology 6: 5.
Morgan, Gary S. (2003a). The extinct free-tailed bat Tadarida constantinei and associated vertebrates from Pleistocene deposits in Slaughter Canyon Cave, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, southeastern New Mexico. New Mexico Geology 25(2): 43.
Morgan, Gary S. (2003b). The Extinct Pleistocene Molossid Bat Tadarida constantinei from Slaughter Canyon Cave, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico. Bat Research News 2003: 159-160.
Morgan, Gary S. and Czaplewski, Nicholas J. (2025). The North American fossil record of bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) from cave and karst deposits. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 87(4): 265-313. https://doi.org/10.4311/2024pa0116
Pate, D. (1996). Constantine's Freetail. Canyons & Caves: A Newsletter from the Resource Management Offices, Carlsbad Caverns National Park [1996]: 10.