Large leaf noses
| Large leaf noses | ||||||||||||
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Megaderma spasma trifolium , drawing by Ernst Haeckel . |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Megadermatidae | ||||||||||||
| Allen , 1864 |
The large-leaf noses (Megadermatidae) are a bat family . The six species are common in central Africa , South and Southeast Asia and Australia . They are not closely related to the leaf noses (Phyllostomidae), a New World bat family.
These bats are relatively large and weigh 20 to 200 grams. The Australian ghost bat is the largest species of bat in the world. It is characterized by the large ears, which are connected at the base by a skin band, and the long, erect nasal blades . These act like a megaphone, they amplify the ultrasound sounds that they emit with their noses and that are used for echolocation. The tail membrane is well developed, but large-leaf noses do not have a tail.
Except for the yellow-winged bat , which prefers trees, they sleep in caves, crevices, buildings or hollow trees, depending on the species, alone or in groups of up to 100 animals. Large-leaf noses are carnivores; in addition to insects, vertebrates (such as rodents, small bats, birds or lizards) also make up part of the diet of all species with the exception of the yellow-winged bat.
Large-leaf noses are divided into five genera with six species:
- the Australian ghost bat ( Macroderma gigas ),
- the false vampires ( Megaderma ) with two types, the Indian false vampire ( Megaderma lyra ) and the Malay false vampire ( Megaderma spasma )
- the yellow-winged bat ( Lavia frons )
- the heart-nosed bat ( Cardioderma cor )
- Eudiscoderma thongareeae
literature
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World . Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0801857899
Individual evidence
- ↑ Pipat Soisook, Amorn Prajakjitr, Sunate Karapan, Charles M. Francis & Paul JJ Bates: A new genus and species of false vampire (Chiroptera: Megadermatidae) from peninsular Thailand. Zootaxa 3931 (4): 528-550, March 2015, doi: 10.11646 / zootaxa.3931.4.4
