Jamaican fruit bat
Encyclopedia
The Jamaican, Common or Mexican fruit bat (Artibeus jamaicensis) is a fruit bat
native to Central
and South America
, as well as the Greater
and many of the Lesser Antilles
. It is also an uncommon resident of the Southern Bahamas
. Its distinctive features include the absence of an external tail and a minimal, U-shaped interfemoral membrane
.
with four or five relatively small serrations on the outer margin. The noseleaf is well-developed with a cluster of sebaceous glands. The lower lip has a central wart with smaller warts surrounding. Upper and lower lips have sebaceous holocrine glands. The dorsal fur varies from ashy gray to ashy brown with white hair bases that show through. The wings of the fruit bat are broad and dark gray in color. The ventral fur is lighter in color. The fruit bat has no external tail and the interfemoral membrane is narrow and hairless with a brief calcar
. It also has large canines in comparison to other members of its genus.
The Jamaican fruit bat is a frugivore
, being a fruit generalist and a fig specialist. Figs are an important part of the bat’s diet and at Barro Colorado Island, Panama, they make up more than 78% of the fruits eaten. Fruit bats will consume figs like leaves and only the pulp juices are ingested. Bats will also select the leaves of plant with high protein concentrations as protein supplements. Numerous plant species are eaten. While there is great diversity in the fruit bat’s diet, only a few plant species compose the bulk of it at any given locality, with other species appearing in much lower quantities. A Jamaican fruit-eating bat carries fruits and leaves by mouth away from the source to a feeding roost, which can be close or several hundred meters away which makes the bat a good seed disperser. Fruit bats have been recorded carrying fruits weighing of 3-14 g or even as much as 50 g. Jamaican fruit bats use sight and olfaction to find fruit of great colors and strong odors.
The maximum longevity for the Jamaican fruit bat is nine years in the wild. Predators of fruits bats include owl
s, snake
s, large oppossums, and coati
. Histoplasma capsulatum has been islolated from bats at several sites. Some individual bats may be infected with rabies
. Fruit also are susceptible to various internal parasites: nematodes and ringworms and external parasites: mites, ticks and chiggers.
. That is, males will monopolize and defend limited resources that appeal to females. Females will go to the best territory for mating and remain there for a long time. Subadult males may remain in their natal roosts while females aggregate with other females at another location. It seems that some aspects of female defensive polygyny exist in caves with enough roosting spaces. Here, harem males actively defend females during the breeding seasons and will attack satellite males that roost in the walls and ceilings of caves. However, they tolerate males who are subordinate to them in their harems. Satellite males visit large groups more often than smaller groups and dominant and subdominant males will cooperative to control access to harem females.
When bats going on foraging trips, it is the dominant males that are the first to leave to the roosting sites and the last to re-enter them. At dusk, males spend much time flying near a tree roost to ward off intruders. Jamaican fruit bats are more active during the first hours after dark and activity peaks at midnight and is sporadic during the following hours. Fruit bats may forage in groups with a medium or low possibility of using the same flyway. Bats may visit the same tree several times in a single night but do not necessarily roost there. The expection is for tree with large fruits, where the bats stay while eating.
When captured, a Jamaican fruit bat will produce a distress call consisting of a long series of pulse of short duration (15 kHz), and is used to warn conspecifics. The Jamacian fruit bat will respond to the distress calls of other species and those that are recorded. The fruit bat is considered a whisper bat and emits 3 low-intensity FM pulses when flying and perching.
The Jamaican fruit bat has a breeding pattern that is bimodal and polyestrous with births peaking probably being dependant on fruit availability. A female has two partum periods and have single young at each partum. Breeding peaks at the end of the wet season with births occurring during the dry months. Delayed embryonic development occurs in the second breeding season and the young are born in the next breeding period. The testes of the males enlarge during the postpartum estrus of females. Harems males have slightly larger testes than that of satellite males, along with a greater amount of tooth wear. The first copulations do not occur until 2 days after partum and the last occur after 25 days. During copulation, the vaginal rim of the vulva becomes dark and extensive. Pups born in a harem may sometimes be sired by satellite males depending on the size of the group. Gestation is usually 3.5-4 months but can be as long as 7 months with delayed embryonic development. The females gives births hanging head down and the newborn comes out head first, without the aid of the mother. The mothers will consume the placenta when it is expelled. The pup sends its first few days being carried by its mother but later remain in the day roosting area. The female’s nipples become enlarged during nursing and the surround hair is lost. Young nurse for around 15 days. Young have complete, permanent dentition at 40m days and can fly by 50 days when forearm growth is complete. Sexual maturity is attained at eight months for females and 12 months for males.
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:...
native to Central
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, as well as the Greater
Greater Antilles
The Greater Antilles are one of three island groups in the Caribbean. Comprising Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola , and Puerto Rico, the Greater Antilles constitute almost 90% of the land mass of the entire West Indies.-Greater Antilles in context :The islands of the Caribbean Sea, collectively known as...
and many of the Lesser Antilles
Lesser Antilles
The Lesser Antilles are a long, partly volcanic island arc in the Western Hemisphere. Most of its islands form the eastern boundary of the Caribbean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean, with the remainder located in the southern Caribbean just north of South America...
. It is also an uncommon resident of the Southern Bahamas
The Bahamas
The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...
. Its distinctive features include the absence of an external tail and a minimal, U-shaped interfemoral membrane
Interfemoral membrane
The interfemoral membrane, or uropatagium, is the membrane that stretches between the legs of bats, used for flight, and in the case of insect-eating bats, for catching prey.- External links :*...
.
Description
The Jamaican fruit bat is a medium-sized bat, having a total length of 78-89 mm with a 96-150 mm wingspan and weighing 40 to 60 g. The ears tend to be broad, triangular, pointed and separated. It has a short tragusTragus
The tragus is a small pointed eminence of the external ear, situated in front of the concha, and projecting backward over the meatus. Its name comes from the Greek: tragos, goat, and is descriptive of its general covering on its under surface with a tuft of hair, resembling a goat's beard...
with four or five relatively small serrations on the outer margin. The noseleaf is well-developed with a cluster of sebaceous glands. The lower lip has a central wart with smaller warts surrounding. Upper and lower lips have sebaceous holocrine glands. The dorsal fur varies from ashy gray to ashy brown with white hair bases that show through. The wings of the fruit bat are broad and dark gray in color. The ventral fur is lighter in color. The fruit bat has no external tail and the interfemoral membrane is narrow and hairless with a brief calcar
Calcar
The calcar, also known as the calcaneum , is the name given to a spur of cartilage arising from inner side of ankle and running along part of outer interfemoral membrane in bats , this is to help spread the interfemoral membrane , which is part of the wing membrane between the tail and the hind...
. It also has large canines in comparison to other members of its genus.
Ecology
The Jamaican fruit bat ranges from Sinaloa and Tamaulipas, Mexico southward to Ecuador, Venezula, Trinidad, Tobago, Greater and Lesser Antilles, Florida Keys and Amazonian Brazil to northwestern Argentina. It can be found in elevations from sea level to 2,135m. This species is the most widespread member of its genus and can be found in a variety of habitats. It mainly lives in humid tropical habitats, such a tropical evergreen forest, but it also lives in cloud forest and drier tropical habitats such as seasonal dry forest and human-modified habitats. For roosting sites, fruit bats use caves, hollow trees, dense foliage, buildings and leaf tents. The fruit bat will modify the leaves of various plants to produce a roosting “tent” during the day. These tents are usually temporary.The Jamaican fruit bat is a frugivore
Frugivore
A frugivore is a fruit eater. It can be any type of herbivore or omnivore where fruit is a preferred food type. Because approximately 20% of all mammalian herbivores also eat fruit, frugivory is considered to be common among mammals. Since frugivores eat a lot of fruit they are highly dependent...
, being a fruit generalist and a fig specialist. Figs are an important part of the bat’s diet and at Barro Colorado Island, Panama, they make up more than 78% of the fruits eaten. Fruit bats will consume figs like leaves and only the pulp juices are ingested. Bats will also select the leaves of plant with high protein concentrations as protein supplements. Numerous plant species are eaten. While there is great diversity in the fruit bat’s diet, only a few plant species compose the bulk of it at any given locality, with other species appearing in much lower quantities. A Jamaican fruit-eating bat carries fruits and leaves by mouth away from the source to a feeding roost, which can be close or several hundred meters away which makes the bat a good seed disperser. Fruit bats have been recorded carrying fruits weighing of 3-14 g or even as much as 50 g. Jamaican fruit bats use sight and olfaction to find fruit of great colors and strong odors.
The maximum longevity for the Jamaican fruit bat is nine years in the wild. Predators of fruits bats include owl
Owl
Owls are a group of birds that belong to the order Strigiformes, constituting 200 bird of prey species. Most are solitary and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish...
s, snake
Snake
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
s, large oppossums, and coati
Coati
Coatis, genera Nasua and Nasuella, also known as the Brazilian aardvark, Mexican tejón, hog-nosed coon, pizotes, crackoons and snookum bears, are members of the raccoon family . They are diurnal mammals native to South America, Central America, and south-western North America...
. Histoplasma capsulatum has been islolated from bats at several sites. Some individual bats may be infected with rabies
Rabies
Rabies is a viral disease that causes acute encephalitis in warm-blooded animals. It is zoonotic , most commonly by a bite from an infected animal. For a human, rabies is almost invariably fatal if post-exposure prophylaxis is not administered prior to the onset of severe symptoms...
. Fruit also are susceptible to various internal parasites: nematodes and ringworms and external parasites: mites, ticks and chiggers.
Behavior and life history
When roosting by day in tree hollows, the Jamaican fruit bat has a mating system defined as resource defensive polygynyPolygyny
Polygyny is a form of marriage in which a man has two or more wives at the same time. In countries where the practice is illegal, the man is referred to as a bigamist or a polygamist...
. That is, males will monopolize and defend limited resources that appeal to females. Females will go to the best territory for mating and remain there for a long time. Subadult males may remain in their natal roosts while females aggregate with other females at another location. It seems that some aspects of female defensive polygyny exist in caves with enough roosting spaces. Here, harem males actively defend females during the breeding seasons and will attack satellite males that roost in the walls and ceilings of caves. However, they tolerate males who are subordinate to them in their harems. Satellite males visit large groups more often than smaller groups and dominant and subdominant males will cooperative to control access to harem females.
When bats going on foraging trips, it is the dominant males that are the first to leave to the roosting sites and the last to re-enter them. At dusk, males spend much time flying near a tree roost to ward off intruders. Jamaican fruit bats are more active during the first hours after dark and activity peaks at midnight and is sporadic during the following hours. Fruit bats may forage in groups with a medium or low possibility of using the same flyway. Bats may visit the same tree several times in a single night but do not necessarily roost there. The expection is for tree with large fruits, where the bats stay while eating.
When captured, a Jamaican fruit bat will produce a distress call consisting of a long series of pulse of short duration (15 kHz), and is used to warn conspecifics. The Jamacian fruit bat will respond to the distress calls of other species and those that are recorded. The fruit bat is considered a whisper bat and emits 3 low-intensity FM pulses when flying and perching.
The Jamaican fruit bat has a breeding pattern that is bimodal and polyestrous with births peaking probably being dependant on fruit availability. A female has two partum periods and have single young at each partum. Breeding peaks at the end of the wet season with births occurring during the dry months. Delayed embryonic development occurs in the second breeding season and the young are born in the next breeding period. The testes of the males enlarge during the postpartum estrus of females. Harems males have slightly larger testes than that of satellite males, along with a greater amount of tooth wear. The first copulations do not occur until 2 days after partum and the last occur after 25 days. During copulation, the vaginal rim of the vulva becomes dark and extensive. Pups born in a harem may sometimes be sired by satellite males depending on the size of the group. Gestation is usually 3.5-4 months but can be as long as 7 months with delayed embryonic development. The females gives births hanging head down and the newborn comes out head first, without the aid of the mother. The mothers will consume the placenta when it is expelled. The pup sends its first few days being carried by its mother but later remain in the day roosting area. The female’s nipples become enlarged during nursing and the surround hair is lost. Young nurse for around 15 days. Young have complete, permanent dentition at 40m days and can fly by 50 days when forearm growth is complete. Sexual maturity is attained at eight months for females and 12 months for males.