Megabat
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 Large flying fox, Pteropus vampyrus
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Macroglossinae |
Megabats constitute the suborder Megachiroptera within the order Chiroptera (bats). They include the single family Pteropodidae. Often they are called fruit bats or Old World fruit bats.
While the microbats are distributed over all continents (excluding Antarctica), the megabats live only in tropical areas of Asia, Africa and Oceania.
Not all megabats are large: the smallest species is 6 cm (2 inches) long and thus smaller than some microbats. The large flying foxes are 40 cm (16 inches) long and have a wingspan of 150 cm (5 feet). These giants are almost 1 kg (2 pounds) in weight. Most megabats have large eyes enabling them to orient in the twilight and inside caves. The sense of smell is excellent. In contrast to the microbats the megabats do not use echolocation. One species is an exception, however - the Egyptian fruit bat Rousettus egyptiacus - which uses high pitched clicks to navigate in caves.
Megabats are frugivorous. They eat fruits or suck nectar from flowers. Often the fruits are squashed, and only the fruit juice is consumed. The teeth are adapted to bite through hard fruit skins. In fact, the megabats lack canine teeth all together (having molars instead) and many of the nectar-sucking bats have very small almost useless teeth. Large megabats have to land in order to eat the fruits, while the smaller species are able to hover with flapping wings in front of a flower or fruit.
All megabats help in the distribution of plants by carrying the fruits with them and spitting the seeds at other places. The nectar-sucking bats pollinate the visited plants. They have a long tongue, that can be inserted into the flower. The pollen is taken to the next blossom, which will be pollinated. This relationship between plants and bats is called chiropterophily. Examples are the baobabs of the genus Adansonia and the sausage tree (Kigelia).
Because of their large size and somewhat "spectral" appearance, megabats are sometimes used in horror movies to represent vampires or to lend an aura of spookiness. In reality, as noted, the bats of this group are frugivorous and not dangerous to human beings.
[edit] Classification
Some evidence has cast doubt on the close relationship between Megachiroptera and Microchiroptera, with the megabats being more closely related to primates, and the two groups of bat having evolved flight independently. However, most experts would disagree, and classify them as part of the same clade, Chiroptera.
The family Pteropodidae is divided into two subfamilies, 42 genera and 173 species. Here is a list of the genera:
Subfamily Macroglossinae
- Macroglossus (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
- Myonycteris (little collared fruit bats)
- Pteropus (flying foxes)
- Acerodon (including Giant golden-crowned flying fox)
- Neopteryx
- Pteralopex
- Styloctenium
- Dobsonia (bare-backed fruit bats)
- Aproteles bulmerae (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 ( tailess fruit bat}
- 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 salimalii (Salim Ali's fruit bat)
- Nyctimene (tube-nosed fruit bats)
- Paranyctimene (lesser tube-nosed fruit bats)
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
