Long-tongue bats
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| Gray , 1821 |
The notopteris (Macroglossini) are a generic group of the family of flying foxes (Pteropodidae). The almost 15 species are among the smallest species of flying fox and have specialized in nectar and pollen as food.
distribution
Long-tongue fruit bat are common in South and Southeast Asia (from India to Indonesia ), New Guinea , in northern and eastern Australia and on some island groups in the western Pacific ( Solomon Islands , Vanuatu , Fiji and New Caledonia ).
description
The tongue of these animals is slender and can be stretched out far, it is shaped like a brush to be able to absorb the nectar and pollen. The snout is elongated, as with all fruit bats, the eyes are well developed. The molars are very small and hardly protrude from the gums, the canines are needle-shaped and strongly curved. In contrast to the other flying foxes, most long-tongue flying foxes lack the claw on the second finger. The fur of these animals is usually brownish, sometimes blackish in color. The length of the head body is between 5 and 13 centimeters, the length of the upper arm between 3.5 and 9 centimeters; the weight of these animals is between 11 and 82 grams.
Way of life
Long-tongue flying foxes inhabit mangrove areas, as well as rain and other forests up to almost 3000 meters above sea level, sometimes they can also be found on orchards. Like most fruit bats, they are nocturnal. Except for the cave long-tongue fruit bat ( Eonycteris ), which live together in groups and mainly sleep in caves, these animals are solitary animals that rest on trees. As already mentioned, the diet of these animals consists almost exclusively of pollen and nectar, and they play an important role in the pollination of some plant species. Most species can probably mate throughout the year, the gestation period is around four to six months, after around two to three months the young is weaned, and females can become pregnant again at the same time or shortly afterwards.
The genera
There are five genera with (depending on the counting method) eleven to 15 species. The African long- tongue bat ( Megaloglossus woermanni ) is, despite its similarities in physique and diet, according to recent studies, not related to this group, but to the rosette bat and has merely developed convergent .
- The cave long-tongue fruit bat ( Eonycteris ) comprise two to four species, depending on the author, which are distributed from India to the Philippines and the Moluccas . The males have a frizzy hair on the neck, while females are almost hairless at this point. They are mostly cave dwellers and live together in groups.
- The genus Macroglossus is common from India to the Solomon Islands . It includes two species, the dwarf long-tongue bat ( M. minimus ), the smallest member of this group and one of the smallest fruit bats and M. sobrinus .
- The three species of the genus Syconycteris have a red-brown or gray-brown fur. P. australis is common in the Moluccas, New Guinea and eastern Australia, S. carolinae only lives on Halmahera and surrounding islands and S. hobbit whose epithet from that of JRR Tolkien comes created people, is found in western New Guinea.
- The genus Melonycteris includes three to four species, depending on how they are counted , which only live in the Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomon Islands .
- The genus Notopteris consists of two species, the Notopteris neocaledonica and the long-tailed bat ( Notopteris macdonaldi ), which is the only representative of the fruit bats to have a long tail. It is common in Vanuatu , Fiji and New Caledonia .
Systematics
Traditionally, the long-tongue flying foxes were regarded as one of the two subfamilies (Macroglossinae) of the flying foxes, which was compared to all other flying fox species (Pteropodinae). According to more recent phylogenetic studies, this classification cannot be maintained; the actual fruit bats (Pteropodini), for example, are more closely related to them than to the tube-nosed bat. See also the systematics of the fruit bats .
annotation
The systematics of the fruit bats is largely based on the phylogenetic study of Kate E. Jones et al. a .: A Phylogenetic Supertree of Bats . The authors do not use a rank in the classical sense for the taxa . The designation of this group as a tribe with the ending -ini is therefore chosen arbitrarily.
swell
- ↑ Kate E. Jones, Andy Purvis, Ann MacLarnon, Olaf R. Bininda-Emonds, Nancy B. Simmons: A phylogenetic supertree of the bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) . In: Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society . tape 77 , no. 2 , 2002, p. 223-259 , doi : 10.1017 / S1464793101005899 ( molekularesystematik.uni-oldenburg.de [PDF; 5.2 MB ; accessed on May 15, 2018]).