Miniopterus

Miniopterus, known as the bent-winged or long winged bats, is the sole genus of the family Miniopteridae. They are small flying insectivorous mammals, micro-bats of the order Chiroptera, with wings over twice the length of the body. The genus had been placed in its own subfamily among the vespertilionid bats, as Miniopterinae, but is now classified as its own family.

== Taxonomy == The genus was erected in 1837 by Charles L. Bonaparte. In the first systematic revision of the genus, published in a monograph of Miniopterus in 1858 by Robert F. Tomes, the author reallocated specimens and described new taxa. A new systematic arrangement was produced in an extensive study of poorly known chiropterans of the Indo-Austral region by James E. Hill in 1985, the greater resolution of the genus being determined by the British Museum of Natural History's acquisition of new series of specimens collected in Fiji, the New Hebrides and New Caledonia and the extensive collection made in New Guinea by ecologist Ben Gaskell on "Operation Drake".