Megabat
86367
225976193
2008-07-16T08:11:52Z
Mathew5000
1336708
/* Classification */ refs on phylogeny
{{Cleanup|date=February 2008}}
: ''For other uses of the term "Flying fox" see [[Flying fox (disambiguation)]]''
{{dablink|"Fruit bats" redirects here. For the article on the rock band, see [[Fruit Bats]]}}
{{Taxobox
| name is= Megabats
| fossil_range = Mid [[Oligocene]] to Recent
| image = Kalong-drawing.jpg
| image_width = 250px
| image_caption = [[Large flying fox]], ''Pteropus vampyrus''
| regnum = [[Animalia]]| phylum = [[Chordate|Chordata]]
| classis = [[Mammal]]ia
| ordo = [[Chiroptera]]
| subordo = '''Megachiroptera''' or [[Yinpterochiroptera]]
| subordo_authority = [[George Edward Dobson|Dobson]], 1875
| familia = '''Pteropodidae'''
| familia_authority = [[John Edward Gray|Gray]], 1821
| subdivision_ranks = Subfamilies
| subdivision =
[[Macroglossinae (Chiroptera)|Macroglossinae]]<br/>
[[Pteropodinae]]
}}
[[Image:Pteropus conspicillatus.jpg|thumb|[[Spectacled Flying-fox]] (''Pteropus conspicillatus'')]]
'''Megabats''' is the term used informally to refer to bats of the family '''Pteropodidae'''. 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]] Megachiroptera, within the order Chiroptera ([[bat]]s).
==Description==
Not all so-called '''megabats''' are large: the smallest [[species]] is 6 [[centimetre|centimeters]] (2.4 [[inch]]es) long and thus smaller than some [[microbat]]s. The largest reach 40 cm (16 inches) in length and attain a [[wingspan]] of 150 cm (5 [[Foot (unit of length)|feet]]), weighing in at nearly 1 [[kilogram|kg]] (more than 2 [[Pound (mass)|pounds]]). Most fruit bats have large [[eye]]s, allowing them to orient visually in the [[twilight]] of dusk and inside [[cave]]s and [[forest]]s.
The [[sense of smell]] is excellent in these creatures. In contrast to the microbats, the fruit bats do not, as a rule, use [[animal echolocation|echolocation]] (with one exception, the [[Egyptian fruit bat]] ''Rousettus egyptiacus'', which uses high-pitched clicks to navigate in caves).
In specimens of the Egyptian fruit bat the [[epidemy|epidemical]] [[Marburg virus]] was found in 2007, confirming the suspicion that this species may be a reservoir for this dangerous virus.<ref>
{{
cite web |url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20382188/ |title=Deadly Marburg virus discovered in fruit bats |publisher=msnbc |date=[[August 21]], [[2007]] |accessdate=2008-03-11
}}
</ref>
==Diet==
[[Image:flying foxes.jpg|thumb|left|thumb|Fox Island, Australia, is believed to be the largest colony of flying foxes on the continent]]
Fruit bats are [[frugivore|frugivorous]] or [[nectarivore|nectarivorous]], i.e., they eat [[fruit]]s or lick [[nectar (plant)|nectar]] from [[flower]]s. Often the fruits are crushed and only the [[Fruit juices|juices]] consumed. The [[tooth|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.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
==Importance==
Frugivorous bats aid the distribution of plants (and therefore, forests) by carrying the fruits with them and spitting the [[seed]]s or [[Elimination|eliminating]] them elsewhere. Nectarivores actually [[pollination|pollinate]] visited plants. They bear long [[tongue]]s that are inserted deep into the flower; [[pollen]] thereby passed to the bat is then transported to the next blossom visited, pollinating it. This relationship between plants and bats is a form of [[mutualism]] known as '''chiropterophily'''. Examples of plants that benefit from this arrangement include the [[baobab]]s of the genus ''Adansonia'' and the [[Kigelia|sausage tree]] (''Kigelia'').
== Classification ==
[[Image:bristol.zoo.livfruitbat.arp.jpg|thumb|250px|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]]). According to this hypothesis, all living [[megabats]] and [[microbats]] are descendants of a [[common ancestor]] species that was already capable of flight. 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 [[Convergent evolution|convergence]] (see [[Flying primates theory]]).<ref>Pettigrew JD, Jamieson BG, Robson SK, Hall LS, McAnally KI, Cooper HM, 1989, Phylogenetic relations between microbats, megabats and primates (Mammalia: Chiroptera and Primates). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, Biological Sciences 325(1229):489-559 </ref> However, a recent flurry of [[Genetics|genetic]] studies confirms the more longstanding notion that all bats are indeed members of the same [[Cladistics|clade]], the [[Chiroptera]].<ref name="Eick">{{cite journal | doi10.1093/molbev/msi180 | year=2005 | month=Sep | author=Eick, GN; Jacobs, DS; Matthee, CA | title=A nuclear DNA phylogenetic perspective on the evolution of echolocation and historical biogeography of extant bats (chiroptera) | volume=22 | issue=9 | pages=1869–86 | pmid=15930153 | journal=Molecular biology and evolution | url=http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=15930153 | format=Free full text}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Primitive Early Eocene bat from Wyoming and the evolution of flight and echolocation | doi=10.1038/nature06549 | url=http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v451/n7180/abs/nature06549.html | accessdate=2008-07-03 | date=[[2008-02-14]] | work=Nature | quote=recent studies unambiguously support bat monophyly}}</ref> Other studies have recently suggested that certain families of microbats (possibly the [[horseshoe bats]], [[Rhinopomatidae|mouse-tailed bats]] and the [[Megadermatidae|false vampires]]) are [[evolution]]arily closer to the fruit bats than to other microbats.<ref name="Eick"/><ref name="AdkinsHoneycutt">
{{
cite journal |author=Adkins RM, Honeycutt RL |title=Molecular phylogeny of the superorder Archonta |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]] of the U.S.A. |volume=88 |issue=22 |pages=10317–10321 |year=1991 |pmid=1658802 |doi= |url=http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/88/22/10317.pdf
}}
</ref>
==Mindoro Stripe-Faced Fruitbat==
On [[September 17]], [[2007]], a new [[species]] of [[flying fox]], or fruit bat — [[orange (color)|orange]]-coloured with a distinctive, white-striped face — was discovered in a protected [[wildlife area]] in the [[Sablayan]] region, [[Mindoro]], [[Philippines]]. 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 [[Journal of Mammalogy]] published its details. The total number of bat species in the Philippines is 74, with 26 unique to the Philippines.<ref>[http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070917/sc_afp/philippineswildlifebat New bat species discovered in Philippines] Yahoo.com. </ref>
===List of genera===
The family Pteropodidae is divided into two [[subfamilies]] with 173 total [[species]], represented by 42 [[genus|genera]]:
Subfamily [[Macroglossinae (Chiroptera)|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)
* ''[[Rousettus |Boneia]]'' (considered subgenus of Rousettus by most authors<ref>http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3/browse.asp?s=y&id=13800410</ref>
* ''[[Myonycteris]]'' (little collared fruit bats)
* ''[[Pteropus]]'' ([[flying fox|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 [[Philippines|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)
== Fruit bats in popular culture ==
{{Unreferencedsection|date=May 2008}}
Because of their large size and somewhat "spectral" appearance, fruit bats are sometimes used in [[horror film|horror movies]] to represent [[vampire]]s or to otherwise lend an aura of spookiness. In reality, as noted above, the bats of this group are purely [[herbivore|herbivorous]] creatures and pose no direct threat to human beings, baby cows, or ill children. 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.
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.[http://joyofsox.blogspot.com/2007/07/joy-of-sox-nickname-glossary.html]
== See also ==
* [[Mammals of Borneo]]
* [[Cynopterus]]
* [[Penthetor]]
==Footnotes==
{{reflist}}
== References ==
{{refbegin|2}}
* Myers, P. 2001. "Pteropodidae" (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed December 26, 2006 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Pteropodidae.html.
* {{cite journal |last=[[Springer]] |first=M. S. |coauthors=et al |year=2005 |month=28 January |title=A Molecular [[Phylogeny]] for Bats Illuminates [[Biogeography]] and the [[Fossil]] Record |journal=Science |doi=10.1126/science.1105113 |volume=307 |pages=580 |pmid=15681385 }}
* [http://www.batworld.org Bat World Sanctuary]
* [http://www.allaboutrodrigues.com/Rodrigues+Fruit+Bats.html Rodrigues Fruit Bats]
* [http://www.batcon.org Bat Conservation International]
* [http://www.uq.edu.au/nuq/jack/consensus.htm Criticism of the molecular evidence for bat monophyly]
* [http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/zoostaff/BBE/Welbergen/Megachiroptera.htm Brief history of Megachiroptera / Megabats]
{{refend}}
== External links ==
{{Commons|Category:Pteropodidae|Pteropodidae}}
*[http://www.batworld.org Bat World Sanctuary]
*[http://www.allaboutrodrigues.com/Rodrigues+Fruit+Bats.html Rodrigues Fruit Bats]
*[http://www.batcon.org Bat Conservation International]
*[http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/zoostaff/BBE/Welbergen/Megachiroptera.htm Brief history of Megachiroptera / Megabats]
[[Category:Fruit bats]]
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