Madagascan flying fox

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Madagascan flying fox

Conservation status
Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)^[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Chiroptera
Family:	Pteropodidae
Genus:	Pteropus
Species:	P. rufus
Binomial name
*Pteropus rufus* É. Geoffroy, 1803

Madagascan flying fox range

The Madagascan flying fox, Madagascar flying-fox, or Madagascar fruit bat (Pteropus rufus) is a species of megabat in the genus Pteropus. It is endemic to Madagascar. Its natural habitats are diverse, and include moist lowland forests, dry forests, succulent woodlands, and spiny thickets, and mangroves. It eats figs and other fruits, flowers, and leaves. It is threatened by habitat loss.^[1]

Description

This is the largest bat in Madagascar, with a body length of 23.5–27 cm (9.1–10.5 in), a wingspan of 100–125 cm (39–49 in), and a body weight of 500–750 g (1.1-1.65 lb).^[2] Madagascan flying fox species have a brown color and the area on their chest and shoulders have a golden to slightly dark brown color. Its wings have a grey to black color, and both male and female Madagascan flying foxes look alike in appearance, but it is noted that the male has a slightly larger head than the females.^[3]

Ecology

The Madagascan flying fox roosts during the day in large trees in colonies of up to 1000 individuals although 400 is a more normal number. The bats are noisy and easily disturbed, and if roused, the whole colony may move off to an alternative roost site. Most roosts are in isolated trees in degraded areas.

The diet mainly consists of fruit juice which is squeezed from the fruit in the mouth. In the process many seeds are swallowed and dispersed to other areas as they pass through the animal's gut. Other tree products are also eaten, including leaves, flowers and nectar. It has been observed to visit the flowers of the kapok tree Ceiba pentandra and it is believed to pollinate this tree.^[4]

Distribution

The Madagascan flying fox is one of the most common bat species on Madagascar and is found in all parts of the island except the central highland region, ranging from sea level to 1,200 meters elevation.^[1]

Status

In its Red List of Threatened Species, the IUCN has classified this bat as "Vulnerable". Its numbers appear to be declining and the greatest threat it faces is being hunted for bushmeat. Under Madagascar law, hunting this species is only permitted between the months of May and August. It is targeted both at its roosting sites and at the trees where it feeds, and the harvesting in many areas is believed to be unsustainable. It is taken as a subsistence food and also commercially. Besides this, it is threatened by loss of habitat as woodland is converted to agricultural land. This bat is present in only a few protected areas and in these it should receive some protection from hunting.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Racey, P.A. (2016). "Pteropus rufus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T18756A22087230. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T18756A22087230.en. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
^ Garbutt, N. (2007) Mammals of Madagascar: A Complete Guide: A to C Black, London
^ Brook, Cara E.; Bai, Ying; Dobson, Andrew P.; Osikowicz, Lynn M.; Ranaivoson, Hafaliana C.; Zhu, Qiyun; Kosoy, Michael Y.; Dittmar, Katharina (2015). "Bartonella SPP. In Fruit Bats and Blood-Feeding Ectoparasites in Madagascar". PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. 9 (2): e0003532. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0003532. PMC 4337899. PMID 25706653.
^ Andriafidison, Daudet; Andrianaivoarivelo, Radosoa A.; Ramilijaona, Olga R.; Razanahoera, Marlène R.; MacKinnon, James; Jenkins, Richard K. B.; Racey, Paul A. (2006). "Nectarivory by Endemic Malagasy Fruit Bats During the Dry Season". Biotropica. 38 (1): 85–90. doi:10.1111/j.1744-7429.2006.00112.x. S2CID 83701106.

Extant species of family Pteropodidae

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Eutheria
Superorder: Laurasiatheria
Order: Chiroptera

Subfamily Nyctimeninae

Nyctimene
(tube-nosed fruit bats)

Paranyctimene

Subfamily Cynopterinae

Aethalops (Pygmy fruit bats)	Borneo fruit bat (A. aequalis) Pygmy fruit bat (A. alecto)
Alionycteris	Mindanao pygmy fruit bat (A. paucidentata)
Balionycteris	Spotted-winged fruit bat (B. maculata) Balionycteris seimundi
Chironax	Black-capped fruit bat (C. melanocephalus)
Cynopterus (Dog-faced fruit bats)	Lesser short-nosed fruit bat (C. brachyotis) Horsfield's fruit bat (C. horsfieldii) Peters's fruit bat (C. luzoniensis) Minute fruit bat (C. minutus) Nusatenggara short-nosed fruit bat (C. nusatenggara) Greater short-nosed fruit bat (C. sphinx) Indonesian short-nosed fruit bat (C. titthaecheilus)
Dyacopterus (Dayak fruit bats)	Brooks's dyak fruit bat (D. brooksi) Rickart's dyak fruit bat (D. rickarti) Dayak fruit bat (D. spadiceus)
Haplonycteris	Fischer's pygmy fruit bat (H. fischeri)
Latidens	Salim Ali's fruit bat (L. salimalii)
Megaerops	Tailless fruit bat (M. ecaudatus) Javan tailless fruit bat (M. kusnotoi) Ratanaworabhan's fruit bat (M. niphanae) White-collared fruit bat (M. wetmorei)
Otopteropus	Luzon fruit bat (O. cartilagonodus)
Penthetor	Dusky fruit bat (P. lucasi)
Ptenochirus (Musky fruit bats)	Greater musky fruit bat (P. jagori) Lesser musky fruit bat (P. minor)
Sphaerias	Blanford's fruit bat (S. blanfordi)
Thoopterus	Swift fruit bat (T. nigrescens) T. suhaniahae

Subfamily Harpyionycterinae

Aproteles	Bulmer's fruit bat (A. bulmerae)
Dobsonia (Bare-backed fruit bats)	Andersen's naked-backed fruit bat (D. anderseni) Beaufort's naked-backed fruit bat (D. beauforti) Philippine naked-backed fruit bat (D. chapmani) Halmahera naked-backed fruit bat (D. crenulata) Biak naked-backed fruit bat (D. emersa) Sulawesi naked-backed fruit bat (D. exoleta) Solomon's naked-backed fruit bat (D. inermis) Lesser naked-backed fruit bat (D. minor) Moluccan naked-backed fruit bat (D. moluccensis) Panniet naked-backed fruit bat (D. pannietensis) Western naked-backed fruit bat (D. peronii) New Britain naked-backed fruit bat (D. praedatrix) Greenish naked-backed fruit bat (D. viridis)
Harpyionycteris	Sulawesi harpy fruit bat (H. celebensis) Harpy fruit bat (H. whiteheadi)

Subfamily Macroglossinae

Macroglossus (Long-tongued fruit bats)	Long-tongued nectar bat (M. minimus) Long-tongued fruit bat (M. sobrinus)
Melonycteris	Fardoulis's blossom bat (M. fardoulisi) Black-bellied fruit bat (M. melanops) Woodford's fruit bat (M. woodfordi)
Notopteris (Long-tailed fruit bats)	Long-tailed fruit bat (N. macdonaldi) New Caledonia blossom bat (N. neocaledonica)
Syconycteris (blossom bats)	Common blossom bat (S. australis) Halmahera blossom bat (S. carolinae) Moss-forest blossom bat (S. hobbit)

Subfamily Pteropodinae

Acerodon	Sulawesi flying fox (A. celebensis) Talaud flying fox (A. humilis) Giant golden-crowned flying fox (A. jubatus) Palawan fruit bat (A. leucotis) Sunda flying fox (A. mackloti)
Desmalopex	White-winged flying fox (D. leucopterus) Small white-winged flying fox (D. microleucopterus)
Eidolon (Straw-coloured fruit bats)	Madagascan fruit bat (E. dupreanum) Straw-coloured fruit bat (E. helvum)
Mirimiri	Fijian monkey-faced Bat (M. acrodonta)
Neopteryx	Small-toothed fruit bat (N. frosti)
Pteralopex	Bougainville monkey-faced Bat (P. anceps) Guadalcanal monkey-faced Bat (P. atrata) Greater monkey-faced Bat (P. flanneryi) Montane monkey-faced Bat (P. pulchra) New Georgian monkey-faced Bat (P. taki)
Pteropus (flying foxes)	Admiralty flying fox (P. admiralitatum) Aldabra flying fox (P. aldabrensis) Black flying fox (P. alecto) Small Samoan flying fox (P. allenorum) Vanuatu flying fox (P. anetianus) Aru flying fox (P. aruensis) Ashy-headed flying fox (P. caniceps) Bismarck masked flying fox (P. capistratus) Moluccan flying fox (P. chrysoproctus) Makira flying fox (P. cognatus) Spectacled flying fox (P. conspicillatus) Large Samoan flying fox (P. coxi) Ryukyu flying fox (P. dasymallus) New Ireland masked flying fox (P. ennisae) Nicobar flying fox (P. faunulus) Banks flying fox (P. fundatus) Gilliard's flying fox (P. gilliardorum) Gray flying fox (P. griseus) Ontong Java flying fox (P. howensis) Small flying fox (P. hypomelanus) Andersen's flying fox (P. intermedius) Kei flying fox (P. keyensis) Livingstone's fruit bat (P. livingstonii) Lombok flying fox (P. lombocensis) Okinawa flying fox (P. loochoensis) Lyle's flying fox (P. lylei) Big-eared flying fox (P. macrotis) Lesser flying fox (P. mahaganus) Mariana fruit bat (P. mariannus) Indian flying fox (P. medius) Black-bearded flying fox (P. melanopogon) Black-eared flying fox (P. melanotus) Caroline flying fox (P. molossinus) Great flying fox (P. neohibernicus) Mauritian flying fox (P. niger) Temotu flying fox (P. nitendiensis) Ceram fruit bat (P. ocularis) Ornate flying fox (P. ornatus) P. pelagicus Pelew flying fox (P. pelewensis) Masked flying fox (P. personatus) Geelvink Bay flying fox (P. pohlei) Grey-headed flying fox (P. poliocephalus) Bonin flying fox (P. pselaphon) Little golden-mantled flying fox (P. pumilus) Solomons flying fox (P. rayneri) Rennell flying fox (P. rennelli) Rodrigues flying fox (P. rodricensis) Madagascan flying fox (P. rufus) Samoa flying fox (P. samoensis) Little red flying fox (P. scapulatus) Seychelles fruit bat (P. seychellensis) Philippine gray flying fox (P. speciosus) Temminck's flying fox (P. temminckii) Insular flying fox (P. tonganus) Vanikoro flying fox (P. tuberculatus) Kosrae flying fox (P. ualanus) Large flying fox (P. vampyrus) New Caledonia flying fox (P. vetulus) Pemba flying fox (P. voeltzkowi) Dwarf flying fox (P. woodfordi)
Styloctenium	Mindoro stripe-faced fruit bat (S. mindorensis) Sulawesi stripe-faced fruit bat (S. wallacei)

Subfamily Rousettinae

Eonycteris
(Dawn fruit bats)

Rousettus
(rousette fruit bats)

Subgenus Boneia: Manado fruit bat (R. bidens)

Subfamily Epomophorinae

Epomophorini

Epomophorus (Epauleted fruit bats)	Angolan epauletted fruit bat (E. angolensis) Ansell's epauletted fruit bat (E. anselli) Peters's epauletted fruit bat (E. crypturus) Gambian epauletted fruit bat (E. gambianus) Lesser Angolan epauletted fruit bat (E. grandis) Ethiopian epauletted fruit bat (E. labiatus) East African epauletted fruit bat (E. minimus) Minor epauletted fruit bat (E. minor) Wahlberg's epauletted fruit bat (E. wahlbergi)
Epomops (Epauleted bats)	Buettikofer's epauletted fruit bat (E. buettikoferi) Dobson's fruit bat (E. dobsoni) Franquet's epauletted fruit bat (E. franqueti)
Hypsignathus	Hammer-headed Bat (H. monstrosus)
Micropteropus (Dwarf epauleted bats)	Hayman's dwarf epauletted fruit bat (M. intermedius) Peters' dwarf epauletted fruit bat (M. pusillus)
Nanonycteris	Veldkamp's dwarf epauletted fruit bat (N. veldkampii)

Myonycterini

Lissonycteris	Angolan rousette (L. angolensis)
Megaloglossus	Azagnyi fruit bat (M. azagnyi) Woermann's bat (M. woermanni)
Myonycteris (Little collared fruit bats)	São Tomé collared fruit bat (M. brachycephala) East African little collared fruit bat (M. relicta) Little collared fruit bat (M. torquata)

Plerotini

Plerotes	D'Anchieta's fruit bat (P. anchietae)

Scotonycterini

Casinycteris	Short-palated fruit bat (C. argynnis) Campo-Ma’an fruit bat (C. campomaanensis) Pohle's fruit bat (C. ophiodon)
Scotonycteris	Zenker's fruit bat (S. zenkeri)

Taxon identifiers
Pteropus rufus	Wikidata: Q18929 Wikispecies: Pteropus rufus ADW: Pteropus_rufus ARKive: pteropus-rufus BioLib: 33994 CoL: 4Q33Q EoL: 327292 GBIF: 5218668 iNaturalist: 40874 IRMNG: 10231959 ITIS: 631654 IUCN: 18756 MDD: 1004496 MSW: 13800362 NCBI: 196297 Observation.org: 87026 Open Tree of Life: 423030 Species+: 3113

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