Luzon fruit bat
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The Luzon fruit bat (Otopteropus cartilagonodus) is a species of megabat in the family Pteropodidae. It is the only species within the genus Otopteropus[1] and is endemic to Luzon, Philippines. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forest.
Description
The Luzon fruit bat, a member of the order Chiroptera, is a small bat that is common to Luzon island.[2] It exhibits dark blackish brown coloration, with a lighter color appearing on the abdominal area, usually grey.[1] It is nocturnal and has rather large eyes, especially for its small stature.[1] Luzon Fruit bats are identifiable by their ears, which are marked by red thickenings.[3]
The species exhibits sexual dimorphism in their cranial characters, particularly the skull.[4] The overall size of the skull is found to be larger in males, but females have a more heightened braincase.[4] Because of this, the females have a longer total body length, while both sexes have similar wing bone length.[4]
Ecology
Distribution and habitat
The Philippine Islands have wide fauna diversity. Under the order Chiroptera, the island is home to 73 species, 36 genera, and 6 families.[4] Luzon Fruit Bats are one of two species in the family Pteropodidae that have undergone radiation in Southeast Asia.[4] The Luzon Fruit Bat is restricted to Luzon Island, found on the Philippine archipelago.[5] They occupy three different regions on this island: the Cordillera Central Mountains, the Sierra Madre Mountains, and the Zambales Mountains.[6] It has been hypothesized that these three clades diverged from one another around 1.91 million years ago.[2]
The Luzon fruit bats are more abundant in montane primary forest.[3] But they have spread to well-developed secondary forest, as well as lowland, montane, and mossy forests.[3] Their distribution is found in an elevation range from 200 – 2250 meters (Heaney et al. 1998), but regions of middle elevation is preferred.[2] Because of their high elevation location, they are listed as a Least Concern.[7]
Diet
It is frugivorous; its diet consists mainly of fruit or nectar.[3] In their consumption of fruit, they help contribute to natural reforestation by dispersing seeds.[3] Due to a difference in cranial size, males and females tend to have different food preferences, based on what is most accessible to their body shape.[4]
Behavior
Reproduction
Females have a long duplex uterus that is superficially joined at the cervix.[1] These bats produce one or two young per year.[6] And the distribution of embryo between the left and right uteri are relatively equal and no preference has been observed.[1] Research has concluded that females undergo delayed implantation, although the specific length of delay is unknown.[1]
Male members of the order Chiroptera have a wide morphological variation of primary reproductive structures.[8] Male Luzon fruit bats are no exception, as they display a form of migratory testes, in which their testes are located in the abdomen.[1] Additionally, these male bats have few spermatozoa in both their testes and epididymis, indicating that much of the sperm in not fully mature.[1]
References
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- ↑ a b c d e f g h Heideman, Paul D., Jennifer A. Cummings, and Lawrence R. Heaney. "Reproductive timing and early embryonic development in an Old World fruit bat, Otopteropus cartilagonodus (Megachiroptera)." Journal of mammalogy 74.3 (1993): 621-630.
- ↑ a b c Roberts, Trina E. Divergence, diversity, distance, and disequilibrium: comparative phylogeography of six Philippine fruit bats (Chiroptera; Pteropodidae). Diss. University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine, Committee on Evolutionary Biology, 2005.
- ↑ a b c d e Heaney, Lawrence R. "Synopsis of the mammalian fauna of the Philippine Islands." (1998).
- ↑ a b c d e f Rickart, Eric A., Jennifer A. Mercier, and Lawrence R. Heaney. "Cytogeography of Philippine bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera)." Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 112.3 (1999): 453-469.
- ↑ Alviola, Phillip A., et al. "Chapter 2: mammalian diversity patterns on Mount Palali, Caraballo Mountains, Luzon." Fieldiana Life and Earth Sciences(2011): 61-74.
- ↑ a b Ruedas, L. A., J. R. Demboski, and R. V. Sison. "Morphological and ecological variation in Otopteropus cartilagonodus Kock, 1969 (Mammalia: Chiroptera: Pteropodidae) from Luzon, Philippines." Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 107.1 (1994): 1-16.
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- ↑ Beguelini, Mateus R., et al. "Morphological variation of primary reproductive structures in males of five families of neotropical bats." The Anatomical Record 296.1 (2013): 156-167.
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