Previously, the western red bat (L. frantzii) was classified as a subspecies of the southern red bat, but phylogenetic evidence supports it being a distinct species. This has been followed by the American Society of Mammalogists and the ITIS.[3][4]
The species is recorded in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador (Galápagos Islands), French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela.[1]