Megadermatidae
Encyclopedia
Megadermatidae, or False Vampire Bats, are a family of bat
s found from central Africa
, eastwards through southern Asia
, and into Australia
. They are relatively large bats, ranging from 6.5 cm to 14 cm in head-body length. They have large eyes, very large ears and a prominent nose-leaf. They have a wide membrane between the hind legs, or uropatagium, but no tail. Many species are a drab brown in color, but some are white, bluish-grey or even olive-green, helping to camouflage them against their preferred roosting environments. They are primarily insectivorous, but will also eat a wide range of small vertebrates.
Bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
s found from central Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, eastwards through southern Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, and into Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. They are relatively large bats, ranging from 6.5 cm to 14 cm in head-body length. They have large eyes, very large ears and a prominent nose-leaf. They have a wide membrane between the hind legs, or uropatagium, but no tail. Many species are a drab brown in color, but some are white, bluish-grey or even olive-green, helping to camouflage them against their preferred roosting environments. They are primarily insectivorous, but will also eat a wide range of small vertebrates.
Classification
FAMILY MEGADERMATIDAE- Genus Cardioderma
- Heart-nosed BatHeart-nosed BatThe Heart-nosed Bat is a species of bat in the Megadermatidae family. It is monotypic within the genus Cardioderma. It is found in Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda...
, Cardioderma cor
- Heart-nosed Bat
- Genus Lavia
- Yellow-winged BatYellow-winged batThe Yellow-winged bat is one of five species of false vampire bat from Africa.-Description:The yellow-winged bat has a total length of 58-80 mm and a body weight of 28-36 g. Females tend to be slightly larger than males. The wingspan averages 36 cm...
, Lavia frons
- Yellow-winged Bat
- Genus Macroderma
- Ghost BatGhost BatThe Ghost Bat , also known as the False Vampire Bat is a bat endemic to Australia, named for the extremely thin membrane of its wings that makes it appear ghostly at night. Ghost Bats have grey fur on their backs and pale grey or white fur on their undersides. They have long, narrow wings but no...
, Macroderma gigas
- Ghost Bat
- Genus MegadermaMegadermaMegaderma is a genus of bat in the Megadermatidae family.It contains the following two species:* Lesser False Vampire Bat * Greater False Vampire Bat...
- Lesser False Vampire BatLesser False Vampire BatThe Lesser False Vampire Bat, Megaderma spasma, is a bat found in South Asia and Southeast Asia from Sri Lanka and India in the west to Indonesia and the Philippines in the east. They live in caves and tree hollows. They are insectivorous....
, Megaderma spasma - Greater False Vampire Bat, Megaderma lyra
- Lesser False Vampire Bat