Large long-tongue bat
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Great long-tongue bat ( Macroglossus sobrinus ) |
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| Macroglossus sobrinus | ||||||||||||
| K. Andersen , 1911 |
The large long-tongue bat ( Macroglossus sobrinus ) is a species of the genus Macroglossus within the fruit bats (Pteropodidae). It occurs in East and South Asia from northern India to the People's Republic of China and in large parts of Southeast Asia . The nocturnal animals feed on nectar and pollen from the inflorescences, especially of wild and cultivated bananas and are an important pollinator for them .
features
The large long-tongue bat reaches a head-trunk length of about 70 to 89 millimeters and a tail length of about 6 millimeters. The hind feet are 10 to 18 millimeters long. The ears measure 14 to 19 millimeters. The fur is short and soft, it is a single color clay-brown on the back and a little lighter sand-brown on the belly. The snout is long and thin and thus adapted to the nectar diet . The ears are medium-sized and brown in color, they have a narrow antitragus and are rounded at the tips. The forearms are 38 to 52 millimeters long and, like the upper shins, the inner palm skin and the tail skin , are hairy. The flying skin starts at the base of the fourth toe, the calcar is reduced.
| 2 | · | 1 | · | 3 | · | 2 | = 34 |
| 2 | · | 1 | · | 3 | · | 3 |
The skull has a total length of 28 to 29 millimeters. The type has as other species of the genus two cutting teeth (incisors), a canine (canine), three Vorbackenzähne (Praemolares) and two molars (Molar) in an upper jaw half. In the lower jaw there is one more molar per half of the jaw. The animals have a total of 34 teeth. The palate has eight unbroken palatal ridges, five of which are between the teeth.
distribution
The great long-tongue bat occurs in South Asia from northern India to the People's Republic of China and in large parts of Southeast Asia . In China the species has been found in Mengla , Xishuangbanna and Yunnan . In South Asia, the species occurs in parts of India in Arunachal Pradesh , Meghalaya , Tripura and West Bengal . In Southeast Asia, the distribution area of sufficient Myanmar through Thailand , Laos , Vietnam and probably parts of Cambodia to the Malay Peninsula and on to Indonesia belonging Mentawai Islands , Sumatra and Java . The altitude distribution ranges in parts of the distribution area up to about 2000 meters.
Way of life
The great long-tongue bat lives mainly in the lowlands and in mountain regions in primary and secondary forests and in mangrove areas , as well as in banana plantations, orchards and in the area of settlements. It rests in the vegetation and above all in the rolled up leaves of the banana plants in small groups of five to ten individuals, and in India probably also on buildings. The species flies mainly in secondary forest areas, agricultural areas and similar areas, but is also found in primary forest areas.
The animals are nocturnal and feed on the nectar and pollen from bananas and other year-round blooming plants. As a rule, they fly out individually and are usually only found individually on the plants. For some plant species, especially the wild Musa acuminata and its cultivars, the dessert and cooking bananas , the great long-tongue bat is an important pollinator . In 1991 Itino was able to develop this form of chiropterophilia for Musa acuminata subsp. halabanensis through this species on Sumatra, whereby the banana blossoms produce a thick nectar with a sugar concentration of 21 to 25% especially at night , while the ornithophilic banana species Musa salaccensis , which is primarily pollinated by birds, produces its more fluid nectar especially during the day. According to estimates, an individual of the species usually needs two inflorescences of a banana with around 16 flowers each and a total amount of nectar of around 1.8 milliliters (calculated on the basis of Musa malaccensis ). The total amount required in this case is at least 3.6 ml of nectar per night, whereby the pollen consumed was not included in the calculation. In the case of the cultivated dessert banana, the nectar production is up to 6 ml of nectar per inflorescence, which is sufficient for one meal per night. Since the resting places of the animals are usually very close to the food sources, the range of movement during the foraging for food is comparatively small compared to the small long-tongue bat ( Eonycteris spelaea ) and they cover distances of a maximum of one to two kilometers on their foraging.
Reproduction times in India are likely to be asynchronous and not tied to a fixed season.
Systematics
The large long-tongue bat is assigned to the genus Macroglossus as an independent species . The first scientific description comes from the Danish zoologist Knud Christian Andersen from 1911 using individuals from the Perak region in Malaysia. Sometimes the species was considered a subspecies of the dwarf long-tongue bat ( Macroglossus minimus ), but it has been recognized as a separate species since the 1980s.
Within the species, two subspecies are distinguished with the nominate form :
- Macroglossus sobrinus sobrinus K. Andersen, 1911
- Macroglossus sobrinus fraternus Chasen and Kloss, 1928
Hazard and protection
The species is classified as least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) due to its large distribution area and frequent occurrence. There are no known threats to the existence of the species, but in parts of South Asia it is regionally threatened by deforestation, the removal of bamboo and changes in habitat to agricultural land.
supporting documents
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Don E. Wilson: Greater Long-Nosed Fruit Bat. In: Andrew T. Smith , Yan Xie: A Guide to the Mammals of China. Princeton University Press, 2008; Pp. 330-331, ISBN 978-0-691-09984-2 .
- ↑ a b c Don E. Wilson: Macroglossus. In: Andrew T. Smith , Yan Xie: A Guide to the Mammals of China. Princeton University Press, 2008; P. 330, ISBN 978-0-691-09984-2 .
- ↑ a b c d e f g Macroglossus sobrinus in the Red List of Threatened Species of the IUCN 2017-3. Posted by: AM Hutson, A. Suyanto, T. Kingston, P. Bates, C. Francis, S. Molur, C. Srinivasulu, 2008. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
- ↑ Takao Itino: Pollination Ecology of the Two Wild Bananas, Musa acuminata subsp. halabanensis and M. salaccensis : Chiropterophily and Ornithophily. Biotropica 23 (2), 1991; Pp. 151-158. ( Full text ).
- ^ A b Adrian G. Marshall: Bats, flowers and fruit: evolutionary relationships in the Old World. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 20, 1983; Pp. 115-135. ( Full text ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ).
- ^ A b Don E. Wilson & DeeAnn M. Reeder (eds.): Macroglossus sobrinus in Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed).
literature
- Don E. Wilson: Greater Long-Nosed Fruit Bat. In: Andrew T. Smith , Yan Xie: A Guide to the Mammals of China. Princeton University Press, 2008; Pp. 330-331, ISBN 978-0-691-09984-2 .
Web links
- Macroglossus sobrinus inthe IUCN 2017-3 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: AM Hutson, A. Suyanto, T. Kingston, P. Bates, C. Francis, S. Molur, C. Srinivasulu, 2008. Retrieved February 20, 2018.