Rosette bats

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rosette bats
Palm bat (Eidolon helvum)

Palm bat ( Eidolon helvum )

Systematics
Subclass : Higher mammals (Eutheria)
Superordinate : Laurasiatheria
Order : Bats (chiroptera)
Superfamily : Pteropodoidea
Family : Fruit bats (Pteropodidae)
Tribe : Rosette bats
Scientific name
Rousettini
Andersen , 1912

The rousettus are a generic group of the family of flying foxes (Pteropodidae). Of the 16 or so species in this group, the Egyptian bat and the palm bat are probably the best known.

distribution

Rousettus are in many parts of Africa south of the Sahara and in Egypt , Southwest Asia ( Turkey , Cyprus , Arabian Peninsula ), South and Southeast Asia and the western Pacific (from Pakistan to the Solomon Islands spread).

description

Rosette bats get their name from a red-brown or olive-green coat pattern on the throat of males that can extend to the chest and sides of the neck. The skin underneath is heavily glands. The rest of the fur is yellowish-brown to brown in color, with the upper side sometimes being lighter than the underside. The snout is slender and rather elongated, as with most fruit bats, the tail is receded or absent entirely. The head body length is between 6 and 22 centimeters and the weight between 8 and 350 grams, depending on the species, with the palm bat being the largest and the African long-tongue bat the smallest species of this group.

Way of life

These animals inhabit a number of habitats, they can be found in forests and savannahs, from sea level to over 2000 meters above sea level. In contrast to many other species of flying fox, they usually seek their resting places in caves or buildings, sometimes they can also be found on trees. They live together in groups that can consist of thousands of animals, for example in the case of the palm bat. Many species are excellent fliers who travel several kilometers on their nightly forays in search of food.

As the only genus of the flying fox, several Rousettus species have developed a simple form of echolocation .

food

The food of the rosette bats consists of fruits, whereby they mainly eat the juice, as well as nectar and pollen in the smaller species. Sometimes they also nibble on the bark of the trees.

Reproduction

Once or twice a year these animals usually give birth to a single young animal, whereby the time of birth often depends on climatic factors (rainy season). At least in the palm bat there is delayed implantation - which can be observed in many bats: the embryo does not begin to grow in the uterus until several months after mating. The gestation period can be nine months, although the embryo only grows for four or five months. This behavior has not been observed in other species, but too little is known about many species. Like all bats, rosette bats are relatively long-lived, they can live to be 15 or 20 years old.

threat

The main threats to these animals include loss of habitat due to forest clearing and urban sprawl . Because they often damage plantations and their meat is eaten in some places, they are hunted. The IUCN lists one species ( Myonycteris brachycephala ) as threatened and two others as endangered. In Rosette fruit bats in the Chinese province of Yunnan has been with the Ebola virus related, probably human pathogenic Menglavirus from the family of Filoviridae proven.

Systematics

The tribe is divided into six genera: Eidolon , Rousettus , Boneia , Lissonycteris , Megaloglossus and Myonycteris . The latter three genera are sometimes combined into a separate genus group, Myonycterini. The closest relatives of the rosette bats are the epaulette bats . The exact family relationships are still unclear.

The genera

The cave bats are common in Africa, large parts of southern Asia , New Guinea and the Solomon Islands .
  • The four types of ruff bat ( Myonycteris ) are relatively small and live in central and southern Africa. The São Tomé-frilled bat ( M. brachycephala ) only lives on São Tomé and is considered threatened.
  • Angolan velvet fruit bat ( Lissonycteris angolensis ) (Synonym: Myonycteris angolensis ). The species lives in central and southern Africa and was previously assigned to the genera Rousettus and Myonycteris .
  • The African long- tongue bat ( Megaloglossus woermanni ) is the smallest representative of this group. With its pointed snout and long tongue, it resembles the long-tongue flying dogs (Macroglossini) and was formerly classified in this group. According to recent studies, it has merely developed convergent to these. It only feeds on nectar and pollen.

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 name of this group as a tribe with the ending -ini is therefore chosen arbitrarily, sometimes this taxon is also found as Rousettinae or Rousettina.

Web links

Commons : Rosette Bats  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

swell

  1. ↑ New Ebola virus discovered. In: Doctors newspaper . January 8, 2019, accessed January 10, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Hanry Jefry Lengkong, Endang Arisoesilaningsih, Luchman Hakim and Sudarto. 2016. Morphological Variations and New Species Description of Genus Rousettus Bat from Gunung Duasudara Sanctuary, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. OnLine Journal of Biological Sciences. 16 (2); 90-101. DOI: 10.3844 / ojbsci.2016.90.101
  3. ↑ 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]).