For other uses of the term "Flying fox" see Flying fox (disambiguation)

Megabat Fossil range: Mid Oligocene to Recent
Large flying fox, Pteropus vampyrus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Chiroptera Suborder: Megachiroptera or Yinpterochiroptera Dobson, 1875 Family: Pteropodidae Gray, 1821
Subfamilies
Macroglossinae Pteropodinae

Spectacled Flying-fox (Pteropus conspicillatus)

Megabats is the term used informally to refer to bats of the family Pteropodidae. Fruit Bats is an American Folk rock band originally from Chicago, but now based in Seattle. The Oligocene is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene period and extends from about 33 Bats of the genus Pteropus, belonging to the Megachiroptera sub-order are the largest Bats in the world Chordates ( Phylum Chordata) are a group of Animals that includes the Vertebrates together with several closely related Invertebrates Mammals ( class Mammalia) are a class of Vertebrate Animals characterized by the presence of Sweat glands, including sweat glands The Yinpterochiroptera is a proposed suborder of the Chiroptera, which includes the Megabats and three of the Microbat families Rhinopomatidae George Edward Dobson FRS ( September 4, 1848 at Edgeworthstown Longford, Ireland - November 26, 1895) was a John Edward Gray ( 12 February 1800 &ndash 7 March 1875) was a British zoologist. The Megabat subfamily Macroglossinae is a small group comprising only 5 genera Pteropodinae is a Subfamily of fruit bats Genera within this subfamily are Eidolon - straw-coloured fruit bats The Spectacled Flying-fox, Pteropus conspicillatus also known as the Spectacled Fruit Bat, lives in Australia's north-eastern west regions of Queensland They are also referred to as fruit bats, Old World fruit bats, or flying foxes. According to the most commonly used classification, they constitute a single suborder (the Megachiroptera), within the order Chiroptera (i. This article is about the taxonomic rank for the sequence of species in a taxonomic list see Taxonomic order In scientific classification used e. , bats).

Distribution and habitat

While the microbats are represented on all continents (excluding Antarctica), the fruit bats live only in the tropical and subtropical regions of the Eastern Hemisphere: Africa, Asia, Australasia and Oceania. The microbats constitute the suborder Microchiroptera within the order Chiroptera ( Bats. A continent is one of several large Landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by Convention rather than any strict criteria with seven regions The Tropics are centered on the Equator and limited in Latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately 23°26' (23 Eastern Hemisphere, also Eastern hemisphere or eastern hemisphere, is a geographical term for the half of the Earth that is east of the Australasia is a Region of Oceania: New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea, and neighbouring Islands in the Pacific

Description

Not all so-called megabats are large: the smallest species is 6 centimeters (2. In Biology, a species is one of the basic units of Biological classification and a Taxonomic rank. A centimetre ( American spelling: centimeter, symbol cm) is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to one hundredth 4 inches) long and thus smaller than some microbats. Inches redirects here To see the Les Savy Fav album see Inches. The microbats constitute the suborder Microchiroptera within the order Chiroptera ( Bats. The largest reach 40 cm (16 inches) in length and attain a wingspan of 150 cm (5 feet), weighing in at nearly 1 kg (more than 2 pounds). The wingspan (or just span) of an airplane or a Bird, is the distance from the left wingtip to the right wingtip A foot (plural feet or foot; symbol or abbreviation ft or sometimes &prime – the prime symbol) is a non-SI unit The pound or pound-mass (abbreviation lb, lbm, or sometimes in the United States #) is a unit of Mass Most fruit bats have large eyes, allowing them to orient visually in the twilight of dusk and inside caves and forests. Eyes are organs that detect Light, and send signals along the Optic nerve to the visual areas of the brain Twilight is the time before Sunrise, called Dawn, and the time after Sunset, called Dusk. A cave is a natural underground void large enough for a human to enter A forest is an area with a high density of Trees There are many definitions of a forest based on various criteria

The sense of smell is excellent in these creatures. Olfaction (also known as olfactics or smell) refers to the Sense of smell. In contrast to the microbats, the fruit bats do not, as a rule, use echolocation (with one exception, the Egyptian fruit bat Rousettus egyptiacus, which uses high-pitched clicks to navigate in caves). Echolocation, also called biosonar, is the biological Sonar used by several Animals such as Dolphins Shrews most Bats The Egyptian Fruit Bat or Egyptian Rousette ( Rousettus aegyptiacus) is a species of Old World fruit bat found throughout Africa, except

Fox Island, Australia, is believed to be the largest colony of flying foxes on the continent

The fruit bat is believed to be the host of the Marburg virus, which is highly dangerous to humans. The Marburg virus is the causative agent of Marburg haemorrhagic fever (also known as green monkey disease) ^[1]

Diet

Fruit bats are frugivorous or nectarivorous, i. A frugivore is an Animal that feeds primarily or in some cases exclusively on Fruit. In Zoology, a nectarivore is an animal which eats the sugar-rich Nectar produced by Flowering plants e. , they eat fruits or lick nectar from flowers. The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context and the term is not synonymous in Food preparation and Biology. Nectar is a Sugar -rich liquid produced by plants It is produced either by the Flowers in which it attracts pollinating animals or by extrafloral A flower, also known as a bloom or Blossom, is the reproductive structure found in Flowering plants (plants of the division Magnoliophyta, also Often the fruits are crushed and only the juices consumed. JUICE is a widely used non-commercial Software package for editing and analysing phytosociological data The teeth are adapted to bite through hard fruit skins. Large fruit bats must land in order to eat fruit, while the smaller species are able to hover with flapping wings in front of a flower or fruit.

Importance

Frugivorous bats aid the distribution of plants (and therefore, forests) by carrying the fruits with them and spitting the seeds or eliminating them elsewhere. A seed (in some plants referred to as a kernel) is a small embryonic Plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat usually with some stored Nectarivores actually pollinate visited plants. Pollination in angiosperms and Gymnosperms is the process that transfers pollen grains, which contain the male Gametes (sperm to where the female They bear long tongues that are inserted deep into the flower; pollen thereby passed to the bat is then transported to the next blossom visited, pollinating it. The tongue is the large bundle of Skeletal muscles on the floor of the Mouth that manipulates Food for chewing and swallowing (deglutition Pollen is a fine to coarse powder consisting of microgametophytes ( pollen grains) which produce the male Gametes (sperm cells of This relationship between plants and bats is a form of mutualism known as chiropterophily. Mutualism is a Biological interaction between individuals of two different Species, where both individuals derive a fitness benefit for example increased Examples of plants that benefit from this arrangement include the baobabs of the genus Adansonia and the sausage tree (Kigelia). Baobab is the common name of a Genus ( Adansonia) containing eight species of Trees native to Madagascar (having six species mainland Kigelia is a genus of Flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae.

Fruit bats in popular culture

Because of their large size and somewhat "spectral" appearance, fruit bats are sometimes used in horror movies to represent vampires or to otherwise lend an aura of spookiness. Horror films are Movies that strive to elicit Fear, Horror and terror responses from viewers Vampires are mythological or folkloric revenants who subsist by feeding on the blood of the living In reality, as noted above, the bats of this group are purely herbivorous creatures and pose no direct threat to human beings, baby cows, or ill children. Herbivory is a form of Predation in which an Organism, known as a herbivore, consumes principally Autotrophs ref name=Campbell>Campbell Some works of fiction are more in line with this fact, portraying fruit bats as sympathetic or even featuring them as characters. For example, in the book series Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel, a fruit bat named Java is one of the main characters in the final book of the series. In Stellaluna, a popular children's book by Janell Cannon, the story revolves around the plight of a young fruit bat who is separated from her mother. Stellaluna is a fictional female fruit Bat in a Children 's book of the same name by author Jannell Cannon, written in 1994

Like any other animal, humans are sometimes likened to fruit bats due to appearance or mannerisms; star relief pitcher Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees baseball team is commonly referred to as "Fruit Bat" by fans of opposing teams due to his lithe figure and angular head. Mariano Rivera (born November 29, 1969 in Panama City, Panama) is a Professional baseball player [1]

Classification

Livingstone’s Fruit Bat Pteropus livingstonii

Bats are usually thought to belong to one of two monophyletic groups, a view that is reflected in their classification into two suborders (Megachiroptera and Microchiroptera). A clade is a taxonomic group comprising a single Common ancestor and all the descendants of that ancestor For other uses of the term "Flying fox" see Flying fox (disambiguation Megabats is the term used informally to refer to bats The microbats constitute the suborder Microchiroptera within the order Chiroptera ( Bats. According to this hypothesis, all living megabats and microbats are descendants of a common ancestor species that was already capable of flight. For other uses of the term "Flying fox" see Flying fox (disambiguation Megabats is the term used informally to refer to bats The microbats constitute the suborder Microchiroptera within the order Chiroptera ( Bats. A group of organisms is said to have common descent if they have a common Ancestor. However, there have been other views, and a vigorous debate persists to this date. For example, in the 1980s and 1990s, some researchers proposed (based primarily on the similarity of the visual pathways) that the Megachiroptera were in fact more closely affiliated with the primates than the Microchiroptera, with the two groups of bats having therefore evolved flight via convergence (see Flying primates theory). A primate is a member of the biological order Primates ( Latin: "prime first rank" the group that contains Lemurs the Aye-aye The microbats constitute the suborder Microchiroptera within the order Chiroptera ( Bats. Convergent evolution describes the acquisition of the same biological trait in unrelated lineages The flying primates theory conjectures that Megabats a sub-group of Chiroptera (also known as flying foxes) form an evolutionary Sister group ^[2] However, a recent flurry of genetic studies appears to support the more longstanding notion that both groups are indeed members of the same clade, the Chiroptera. Genetics (from Ancient Greek grc-Latn genetikos, “genitive” and that from grc-Latn genesis, “origin” a discipline of Biology, is Cladistics is the hierarchical classification of Species based on evolutionary ancestry Other studies have recently suggested that certain families of microbats (possibly the horseshoe bats, mouse-tailed bats and the false vampires) are evolutionarily closer to the fruit bats than to other microbats. Horseshoe bats (the Rhinolophidae family are a large family of bats including approximately 130 species grouped in 10 genera Mouse-tailed bats are a group of insectivorous bats of the family Rhinopomatidae with only three species all contained in the single Genus Megadermatidae, or False Vampire Bats, are a family of Bats found from central Africa, eastwards through southern Asia, and into Australia eVolution is the third Album by eLDee, it was due to be released in 2008 ^[3]

Mindoro Stripe-Faced Fruitbat

On September 17, 2007, a new species of flying fox, or fruit bat — orange-coloured with a distinctive, white-striped face — was discovered in a protected wildlife area in the Sablayan region, Mindoro, Philippines. Events 1176 - The Battle of Myriokephalon is fought 1462 - The Battle of Świecino (or Battle of Żarnowiec Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. In Biology, a species is one of the basic units of Biological classification and a Taxonomic rank. Bats of the genus Pteropus, belonging to the Megachiroptera sub-order are the largest Bats in the world The colour orange occurs Protected areas are locations which receive protection because of their environmental cultural or similar value Sablayan is a 1st class municipality in the province of Occidental Mindoro, Philippines. For the unincorporated community of Mindoro Wisconsin in the United States of America see Mindoro Wisconsin. The Philippines ( Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (fil ''Republika ng Pilipinas'' RP The Mindoro Stripe-Faced Fruitbat was discovered through a joint research effort by the University of Kansas's Biodiversity Research Center and the Comparative Biogeography and Conservation of Philippine Vertebrates (CBCPV). The Mindoro stripe-faced fruit bat ( Styloctenium mindorensis) nicknamed the "flying fox" or the platupus for its foxlike face (although it is The University of Kansas (often referred to as KU or just Kansas) is a public research university with campuses located in Lawrence, Kansas City The Journal of Mammalogy published its details. The Journal of Mammalogy is the flagship publication of the American Society of Mammalogists. The total number of bat species in the Philippines is 74, with 26 unique to the Philippines. ^[4]

List of genera

The family Pteropodidae is divided into two subfamilies with 173 total species, represented by 42 genera:

Subfamily Macroglossinae

• Macroglossus (long-tongued fruit bats)
• Megaloglossus (African long-tongued fruit bats)
• Eonycteris (dawn fruit bats)
• Syconycteris (blossom bats)
• Melonycteris
• Notopteris (long-tailed fruit bats)

Subfamily Pteropodinae

• Eidolon (straw-coloured fruit bats)
• Rousettus (rousette fruit bats)
• Boneia (considered subgenus of Rousettus by most authors^[5]
• Myonycteris (little collared fruit bats)
• Pteropus (flying foxes)
• Acerodon (including Giant golden-crowned flying fox)
• Neopteryx
• Pteralopex
• Styloctenium
• Dobsonia (bare-backed fruit bats)
• Aproteles (Bulmer's fruit bat)
• Harpyionycteris (harpy fruit bats)
• Plerotes
• Hypsignathus (hammer-headed fruit bats)
• Epomops (epauleted bats)
• Epomophorus (epauleted fruit bats)
• Micropteropus (dwarf epauleted bats)
• Nanonycteris (little flying cows)
• Scotonycteris
• Casinycteris
• Cynopterus (dog-faced fruit bats or short-nosed fruit bats)
• Megaerops
• Ptenochirus (musky fruit bats)
• Dyacopterus (Dayak fruit bat)
• Chironax (black-capped fruit bats)
• Thoopterus (short-nosed fruit bats)
• Sphaerias (mountain fruit bats)
• Balionycteris (spotted-winged fruit bats)
• Aethalops (pygmy fruit bats)
• Penthetor (dusky fruit bats)
• Haplonycteris (Fischer's pygmy fruit bat or Philippine dwarf fruit bat)
• Otopteropus (Luzon dwarf fruit bat)
• Alionycteris (Mindanao dwarf fruit bat)
• Latidens
• Nyctimene (tube-nosed fruit bats)
• Paranyctimene (lesser tube-nosed fruit bats)
• Mirimiri (Fijian Monkey-faced Bat)

See also

• Mammals of Borneo
• Cynopterus

Footnotes

References

External links

• Bat World Sanctuary
• Rodrigues Fruit Bats
• Bat Conservation International
• Brief history of Megachiroptera / Megabats