| Horsfield's fruit bat | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Chiroptera |
| Family: | Pteropodidae |
| Genus: | Cynopterus |
| Species: | C. horsfieldii |
| Binomial name | |
| Cynopterus horsfieldii Gray, 1843 | |
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| Horsfield's fruit bat range | |
Horsfield's fruit bat (Cynopterus horsfieldii) is a species of megabat native to South East Asia. It is named for Thomas Horsfield, an American naturalist who presented the type specimen to the British Museum.
Horsfield's fruit bat is a medium-sized megabat, intermediate in size between flying foxes and pygmy fruit bats. Adults weigh around 55 to 60 grams (1.9 to 2.1 oz), and have light-grey to brown fur, with a reddish-brown or orange mantle around the shoulders. In some males, the mantle extends across the chest, and the fur is often brighter in colour than in females. The rim of the ears and the skin overlying the metacarpals and phalanges within the wing are white. Juveniles have a more bland coat pattern, with uniformly dull buff or grey fur. [2]
The bats have a short, broad snout, ending in a pair of almost tubular nostrils. Both the eyes and ears are large, although the latter have a simpler structure than in most other bats, and lack tragi. [2] The wings have a low aspect ratio and high wing loading, typical of many megabats, and indicating a relatively slow flight speed and moderate manoeuvrability. [3]
Horsfield's fruit bat is found in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei. Within this region, it inhabits a broad range of lowland habitats, from dense primary rain forest to agricultural land and suburban gardens. [1]
The four recognised subspecies are:
Horsfield's fruit bats eat the fruit of strangler figs, Elaeocarpus , and Payena , and the flowers of bitter beans. They have been reported to pluck fruit from trees and carry it to roosts elsewhere to feed. During the dry season, when fruit is in short supply, they instead feed on pollen, which they take from a wide variety of plants. [2]
They live in small groups, consisting of a single adult male and up to five females and their young. Although these groups are maintained year-round, individual females often move between different groups, and may spend some time nesting alone between leaving one group and joining another. They roost in trees and cave mouths, reportedly favouring banana trees. They often modify their roosting sites by constructing tents from the leaves, partly cutting through them to make an inverted "V" shape. [4]
They breed throughout the year, but most commonly give birth at two times of the year, between February and March and between July and August. They have been reported to live for at least 31 months. [2]
Megabats constitute the family Pteropodidae of the order Chiroptera (bats). They are also called fruit bats, Old World fruit bats, or—especially the genera Acerodon and Pteropus—flying foxes. They are the only member of the superfamily Pteropodoidea, which is one of two superfamilies in the suborder Yinpterochiroptera. Internal divisions of Pteropodidae have varied since subfamilies were first proposed in 1917. From three subfamilies in the 1917 classification, six are now recognized, along with various tribes. As of 2018, 197 species of megabat had been described.
The New World leaf-nosed bats (Phyllostomidae) are bats found from southern North America to South America, specifically from the Southwest United States to northern Argentina. They are ecologically the most varied and diverse family within the order Chiroptera. Most species are insectivorous, but the phyllostomid bats include within their number true predatory species and frugivores. For example, the spectral bat, the largest bat in the Americas, eats vertebrate prey, including small, dove-sized birds. Members of this family have evolved to use food groups such as fruit, nectar, pollen, insects, frogs, other bats, and small vertebrates, and in the case of the vampire bats, even blood.
Cynopterus is a genus of megabats. The cynopterine section is represented by 11 genera, five of which occur in Malaysia, namely, Chironax, Balionycteris, Penthetor, Dyacopterus, and Cynopterus. About 30 names for Cynopterus species have been proposed, but only 16 are taxonomically valid forms.
The Egyptian fruit bat or Egyptian rousette is a species of megabat that is found in Africa, the Middle East, the Mediterranean, and the Indian subcontinent. It is one of three Rousettus species with an African-Malagasy range, though the only species of its genus found on continental Africa. The common ancestor of the three species colonized the region in the late Pliocene or early Pleistocene. The species is traditionally divided into six subspecies. It is considered a medium-sized megabat, with adults weighing 80–170 g (2.8–6.0 oz) and possessing wingspans of approximately 60 cm (24 in). Individuals are dark brown or grayish brown, with their undersides paler than their backs.
The spotted-winged fruit bat is the smallest megabat in the world. It inhabits forests in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.
The dayak fruit bat or dyak fruit bat is a relatively rare frugivorous megabat species found only on the Sunda Shelf of southeast Asia, specifically the Malay Peninsula south of the Isthmus of Kra, and the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. There are three species in the genus Dyacopterus: D. spadiceus, D. brooksi and D. rickarti. All are found in the forests of Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. Few specimens of any of the three species exist, due not only to their rarity, but also because they rarely enter the sub-canopy of the forest where they can be caught in scientists' nets.
The eastern or Queensland tube-nosed bat is a megabat in the family Pteropodidae that lives in north-eastern Australia. N. robinsoni is one of the few species of megabat that roosts solitarily. They get their common name from their raised tubular nostrils which are unlike those of most other species in the family. They are a deep brown with gray heads and sparse yellow spotting.
The hammer-headed bat, also known as hammer-headed fruit bat, big-lipped bat, and hammerhead bat, is a megabat widely distributed in West and Central Africa. It is the only member of the genus Hypsignathus, which is part of the tribe Epomophorini along with four other genera. It is the largest bat in continental Africa, with wingspans approaching 1 m (3.3 ft), and males almost twice as heavy as females. Males and females also greatly differ in appearance, making it the most sexually dimorphic bat species in the world. These differences include several adaptations that help males produce and amplify vocalizations: the males' larynges are about three times as large as those of females, and they have large resonating chambers on their faces. Females appear more like a typical megabat, with foxlike faces.
Livingstone's fruit bat, also called the Comoro flying fox, is a megabat in the genus Pteropus. It is an Old World fruit bat found only in the Anjouan and Mohéli islands in the Union of the Comoros in the western Indian Ocean.
The greater short-nosed fruit bat, or short-nosed Indian fruit bat, is a species of megabat in the family Pteropodidae found in South and Southeast Asia.
The Gambian epauletted fruit bat is a species of megabat in the family Pteropodidae. It is found in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sudan, and Togo. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and savanna.
The Ethiopian epauletted fruit bat is a species of megabat in the family Pteropodidae. It is found in Burundi, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. Its natural habitat is savanna.
Wahlberg's epauletted fruit bat is a species of megabat in the family Pteropodidae. It is commonly found across southern Africa.
The large flying fox, also known as the greater flying fox, Malayan flying fox, Malaysian flying fox, large fruit bat, kalang, or kalong, is a southeast Asian species of megabat in the family Pteropodidae. Despite its scientific name, it feeds exclusively on fruits, nectar, and flowers, like the other flying foxes of the genus Pteropus. It is noted for being one of the largest bats. As with nearly all other Old World fruit bats, it lacks the ability to echolocate but compensates for it with well-developed eyesight.
The Madagascan rousette or Madagascar rousette, is a species of megabat in the family Pteropodidae endemic to Madagascar. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests.
The Bougainville monkey-faced bat or Bougainville flying monkey is a megabat endemic to Bougainville Island of Papua New Guinea and Choiseul Island of the Solomon Islands in Melanesia. It inhabits mature forests in upland areas, within the Autonomous Region of Bougainville and Bougouriba Province.
The Borneo fruit bat is a species of megabat found in the mountains of Borneo, specifically East Malaysia and Brunei. It is considered a subspecies of Aethalops alecto by some authors.
The lesser short-nosed fruit bat is a species of megabat within the family Pteropodidae. It is a small bat that lives in South Asia and Southeast Asia. It weighs between 21 and 32 grams, and measures 70 to 127 millimetres. It occurs in many types of habitat, but most frequently in disturbed forest, including lower montane forest and tropical lowland rain forest, plus gardens, mangroves, and vegetation on beaches.
The minute fruit bat is a species of megabat within the family Pteropodidae. It is found in Sumatra, Java, Borneo and Sulawesi. C. minutus is a smaller species that lives in rainforests. Continuous bimodal polyoestry has seasonal reproduction. The females of the species reproduce in synchrony, giving birth to offspring 5–7 months apart throughout two separate seasons. Postpartum oestrus occurs after each parturition. In C. minutus, both sexes reach sexual maturity at around 7 months, and females give birth for the first time at around 12 months. Females start having children not long after reaching sexual maturity, and they effectively continue having children indefinitely. Relative to other fruit bats, C. minutus have high rates of reproduction.
Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera. With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out digits covered with a thin membrane or patagium. The smallest bat, and arguably the smallest extant mammal, is Kitti's hog-nosed bat, which is 29–34 millimetres in length, 150 mm (6 in) across the wings and 2–2.6 g in mass. The largest bats are the flying foxes, with the giant golden-crowned flying fox reaching a weight of 1.6 kg and having a wingspan of 1.7 m.
