Franquet's Epauletted Fruit Bat
Encyclopedia
Franquet's Epauletted Fruit Bat (Epomops franqueti) is a species of megabat
in the Pteropodidae family.
fruit bat ranges from Ivory Coast to southern Sudan
and south to Angola
and Zambia
.
Specifically, it is found in Angola, Benin
, Cameroon
, Central African Republic
, Republic of the Congo
, Democratic Republic of the Congo
, Ivory Coast, Ghana
, Nigeria
, Rwanda
, Sudan, Tanzania
, Togo
, Uganda
, and possibly Zambia. Reports of this species from Equatorial Guinea
appear to be erroneous.
Its natural habitat
s are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical mangrove forests, subtropical or tropical swamp
s, and dry savanna
.
in 1860 and classified as Epomophorus francqueti from a specimen in the French National Collection forwarded to it by a Dr Franquet of the French Imperial Navy. The habitat location has been mentioned as "Gaboon".
The type location is considered to be as Gabon
and no subspecies have been recognised.
It is a tail-less brown bat with large white epaulette
s, white on the middle of the belly and white earspots. It has a head and body length 165 to 180 mm (6.5 to 7.1 in) and forearm length 74 to 102 mm (2.9 to 4 in). The body weight of a female bat ranges from 56 to 115 g (2 to 4.1 oz) while that of a male bat ranges from 59 to 160 g (2.1 to 5.6 oz). Male bats have two pharyngeal sacs and shoulder pouches lined with glandular membranes. The epaulettes are due to white hair tufts and are prominent in dried laboratory specimens but may be concealed due to the shoulder pouches being contracted in the case of live bats. The epaulettes help spread olfactory cues by dispersing chemicals produced in the glandular shoulder patches.
and emits a high pitched call which is heard throughout the night. This call may last several minutes and sounds like "kyurnk" at close range and a musical whistle from far off. Franquet's bats, like other many other large frugivorous bats, cannot echo-locate.
The males frequently perch by night in favourite trees generally a 100 meters or so apart and call noisily, display the epaulettes prominently while calling. The males increase their call rate in the presence of females; one male has been recorded as emitting 10,000 calls over a period of just three hours on one evening. The calls of such males can be heard as far as a mile off and have been compared to a "flock of excited crows".
Franquet's bats are found in both forests and open country, roosting in trees and bushes by day when they are quite alert, often at a height of 4 to 6 m (13.1 to 19.7 ft). Not being gregarious, they are found either alone or in groups of two or three.
Franquet's bat, like other epauletted fruit bats feeds mainly by night on fruit, nectar and the petals of certain flowers, making lots of noise while feeding. Suction, rather than mastication, appears to be the primary mode of consumption of food by Epomops bats.
The extensible lips protude and engulf the fruit. The hard rind is then pierced with the canines and premolars. The jaws squeeze the fruit while the tongue presses the fruit upwards onto the hard ridges of the palate; the juice being suctioned through the small opening at the rear of the mouth leading to a large pharynx.
Occasionally, bats stuff their cheek pouches and fly to safe perches to eat where they move the contents from one cheek pouch to another, chewing with the large sharp teeth and swallowing the juices. Once the juice has all been extracted, they spit out the fibrous mass in the form of a pellet, large masses of which can be seen below trees where bats have been feeding.
. It is not known whether these species are incidental hosts or a reservoir of Ebola virus infection for humans and other terrestrial mammals.
Megabat
Megabats constitute the suborder Megachiroptera, family Pteropodidae of the order Chiroptera . They are also called fruit bats, old world fruit bats, or flying foxes.-Description:...
in the Pteropodidae family.
Range and habitat
Franquet's epaulettedEpaulette
Epaulette is a type of ornamental shoulder piece or decoration used as insignia of rank by armed forces and other organizations.Epaulettes are fastened to the shoulder by a shoulder strap or "passant", a small strap parallel to the shoulder seam, and the button near the collar, or by laces on the...
fruit bat ranges from Ivory Coast to southern Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
and south to Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
and Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
.
Specifically, it is found in Angola, Benin
Benin
Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...
, Cameroon
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...
, Central African Republic
Central African Republic
The Central African Republic , is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It borders Chad in the north, Sudan in the north east, South Sudan in the east, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo in the south, and Cameroon in the west. The CAR covers a land area of about ,...
, Republic of the Congo
Republic of the Congo
The Republic of the Congo , sometimes known locally as Congo-Brazzaville, is a state in Central Africa. It is bordered by Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo , the Angolan exclave province of Cabinda, and the Gulf of Guinea.The region was dominated by...
, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
, Ivory Coast, Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
, Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, Rwanda
Rwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
, Sudan, Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
, Togo
Togo
Togo, officially the Togolese Republic , is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, on which the capital Lomé is located. Togo covers an area of approximately with a population of approximately...
, Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
, and possibly Zambia. Reports of this species from Equatorial Guinea
Equatorial Guinea
Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea where the capital Malabo is situated.Annobón is the southernmost island of Equatorial Guinea and is situated just south of the equator. Bioko island is the northernmost point of Equatorial Guinea. Between the two islands and to the...
appear to be erroneous.
Its natural habitat
Habitat
* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...
s are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical mangrove forests, subtropical or tropical swamp
Swamp
A swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a large number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp...
s, and dry savanna
Savanna
A savanna, or savannah, is a grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of C4 grasses.Some...
.
Description
The Franquet's epauletted fruit bat was first described by Robert F. TomesRobert Fisher Tomes
Robert Fisher Tomes was an English farmer and zoologist.Tomes was born in Weston-on-Avon and farmed at Welford, Gloucestershire. He was a specialist in bats, describing a number of new species...
in 1860 and classified as Epomophorus francqueti from a specimen in the French National Collection forwarded to it by a Dr Franquet of the French Imperial Navy. The habitat location has been mentioned as "Gaboon".
The type location is considered to be as Gabon
Gabon
Gabon , officially the Gabonese Republic is a state in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, and with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. The Gulf of Guinea, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean is to the west...
and no subspecies have been recognised.
It is a tail-less brown bat with large white epaulette
Epaulette
Epaulette is a type of ornamental shoulder piece or decoration used as insignia of rank by armed forces and other organizations.Epaulettes are fastened to the shoulder by a shoulder strap or "passant", a small strap parallel to the shoulder seam, and the button near the collar, or by laces on the...
s, white on the middle of the belly and white earspots. It has a head and body length 165 to 180 mm (6.5 to 7.1 in) and forearm length 74 to 102 mm (2.9 to 4 in). The body weight of a female bat ranges from 56 to 115 g (2 to 4.1 oz) while that of a male bat ranges from 59 to 160 g (2.1 to 5.6 oz). Male bats have two pharyngeal sacs and shoulder pouches lined with glandular membranes. The epaulettes are due to white hair tufts and are prominent in dried laboratory specimens but may be concealed due to the shoulder pouches being contracted in the case of live bats. The epaulettes help spread olfactory cues by dispersing chemicals produced in the glandular shoulder patches.
Behaviour
The adult male Franquet's bat has a bony voice boxVoice box
Voice box could mean:* The larynx , colloquially known as the voice box, is an organ in the neck of mammals involved in protection of the trachea and sound production....
and emits a high pitched call which is heard throughout the night. This call may last several minutes and sounds like "kyurnk" at close range and a musical whistle from far off. Franquet's bats, like other many other large frugivorous bats, cannot echo-locate.
The males frequently perch by night in favourite trees generally a 100 meters or so apart and call noisily, display the epaulettes prominently while calling. The males increase their call rate in the presence of females; one male has been recorded as emitting 10,000 calls over a period of just three hours on one evening. The calls of such males can be heard as far as a mile off and have been compared to a "flock of excited crows".
Franquet's bats are found in both forests and open country, roosting in trees and bushes by day when they are quite alert, often at a height of 4 to 6 m (13.1 to 19.7 ft). Not being gregarious, they are found either alone or in groups of two or three.
Franquet's bat, like other epauletted fruit bats feeds mainly by night on fruit, nectar and the petals of certain flowers, making lots of noise while feeding. Suction, rather than mastication, appears to be the primary mode of consumption of food by Epomops bats.
The extensible lips protude and engulf the fruit. The hard rind is then pierced with the canines and premolars. The jaws squeeze the fruit while the tongue presses the fruit upwards onto the hard ridges of the palate; the juice being suctioned through the small opening at the rear of the mouth leading to a large pharynx.
Occasionally, bats stuff their cheek pouches and fly to safe perches to eat where they move the contents from one cheek pouch to another, chewing with the large sharp teeth and swallowing the juices. Once the juice has all been extracted, they spit out the fibrous mass in the form of a pellet, large masses of which can be seen below trees where bats have been feeding.
Reproduction
In Uganda, Franquet's bat has been recorded as having two breeding seasons in a year, timed to coincide the births with the advent of the two rainy seasons prevalent in those regions. The gestation period lasts for five to six months. In the first breeding season implantation takes place in April and birth in September while in the second breeding season implantation takes place in late September and birth in late February. At birth the young are 20 gram (0.705479242102239 oz) in weight. Studies in Congo, Zaire and Ivory Coast indicate similar patterns of reproduction in these areas too.Disease vector
Franquet's epauletted fruit bat is one of three species of African fruit bat found to be asymptomatically infected with the Ebola virusEbola virus
Ebola virus causes severe disease in humans and in nonhuman primates in the form of viral hemorrhagic fever. EBOV is a Select Agent, World Health Organization Risk Group 4 Pathogen , National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Category A Priority Pathogen,...
. It is not known whether these species are incidental hosts or a reservoir of Ebola virus infection for humans and other terrestrial mammals.