Megadermatidae

Megadermatidae, or false vampire bats, are a family of bats 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.[1]

This article is about bats in the family Megadermatidae. For the false vampire bats in the family Phyllostomidae, see Phyllostomidae.

Megadermatidae
Temporal range: Early Oligocene to Recent
Megaderma spasma
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Chiroptera
Superfamily: Rhinolophoidea
Family: Megadermatidae
H. Allen, 1864
Genera

Cardioderma
Lavia
Macroderma
Megaderma
Eudiscoderma

Description

False vampire bats are relatively large, with combined head and body lengths that range from 65–140 mm (2.6–5.5 in). Their forearm lengths range from 50–115 mm (2.0–4.5 in). They all lack tails. The ghost bat is the largest member of the family. All the species have very large ears with divided tragi. They have long nose-leaves. All species are similar in that they lack upper incisors, though not all species have the same dental formulae.[2] The lesser false vampire bat and greater false vampire bat have a dental formula of 0.1.2.32.1.2.3 × 2 = 28, while the ghost bat, heart-nosed bat, Thongaree’s disc-nosed bat, and yellow-winged bat have a dental formula of 0.1.1.32.1.2.3 × 2 = 26.[3][2]

Biology and ecology

These species are collectively called false vampire due to the old misconception that they were sanguivorous like the true vampire bats. The ghost bat, heart-nosed bat, lesser false vampire bat, and greater false vampire bat feed on insects and small vertebrates; the yellow-winged bat and Thongaree's disc-nosed bat are likely fully insectivorous.[3][2][4] The heart-nosed bat, greater false vampire bat, and the ghost bat are three of the few bat-eating bats in the world.[4][5] All species of this family are nocturnal, with the exception of the yellow-winged bat which is sometimes active in daylight.[2]

Systematics
Rhinolophoidea
 

Megadermatidae (false vampire bats)

 
 
 
 

Craseonycteridae (Kitti's hog-nosed bat)

 
 

Rhinopomatidae (mouse-tailed bats)

 
 
 
 

Hipposideridae (Old World leaf-nosed bats)

 
 

Rhinolophidae (horseshoe bats)

 
 
 
 
Internal relationships of the Rhinolophoidea, according to a 2011 study[6]
Megadermatidae
 

Megaderma spasma (lesser false vampire bat)

 
 
 
 

Megaderma lyra (greater false vampire bat)

 
 

Lavia frons (yellow-winged bat)

 
 
 
 

Cardioderma cor (heart-nosed bat)

 
 

Macroderma gigas (ghost bat)

 
 
 
 
Internal relationships of the Megadermatidae, according to a 2015 study[7]

Megadermatidae is a family within the Rhinolophoidea superfamily. Genetic analysis shows that it is the most basal member of the superfamily. It is a monophyletic family of bats, based on genetic analysis.[6]

There is confusion about the relationship of species within Megadermatidae. A 2015 study concluded that, while they did not have enough genetic data to fully resolve these relationships, the two Megaderma species should be in separate genera. The authors of the 2015 paper suggested that the greater false vampire bat, Megaderma lyra, should be renamed as Lyroderma lyra.[7] The recovered cladogram in the 2015 study had relatively low posterior probabilities, however, underscoring the need for future study to achieve higher resolution.[7] Note that Thongaree’s disc-nosed bat, Eudiscoderma thongareeae, was not included in this analysis, as it was not described as a new species until 2015.[3]

Fossil record

Megadermatidae is a relatively old family, appearing in the fossil record as early as 37 million years ago.[6] Several fossil species have been described, including:[8]

  • Macroderma koppa Hand, Dawson & Augee, 1988.[9] a fossil species that existed in the Pliocene epoch.[10]
  • Macroderma godthelpi, Hand, 1985. the earliest and smallest species
  • Macroderma malugara Hand, 1996.[11]
  • Megaderma brailloni: Discovered in France; dated from the early Eocene.
  • Megaderma gaillardi: Discovered in France; dated from the mid-Miocene.
  • Megaderma lugdunensis: Discovered in France and the Czech Republic; dated from the mid-Miocene.
  • Megaderma jaegeri: Discovered in Morocco; dated from the mid-Miocene
  • Megaderma vireti: Discovered in Lissieu, France; dated from the late Miocene.
  • Megaderma mediterraneum: Discovered in France; dated from the late Pliocene.
  • Megaderma janossyi: Discovered in Hungary; dated from the early Pliocene.
  • Megaderma watwat: Discovered in Palestine; dated from the Pleistocene.

Conservation

All Megadermatidae species are evaluated as least concern by the IUCN with the exception of the ghost bat, which is vulnerable, and Thongaree’s disc-nosed bat, which is critically endangered.[12][13]

Classification
Macroderma gigas under artificial light at Perth Zoo, Australia

A list of extant species includes,

Family Megadermatidae

References
  1. Macdonald, D., ed. (1984). The Encyclopedia of Mammals. New York: Facts on File. p. 804. ISBN 0-87196-871-1.
  2. Nowak, R. M. (1999). Walker's Mammals of the World. 1. JHU Press. p. 324. ISBN 9780801857898.
  3. Soisook, Pipat; Prajakjitr, Amorn; Karapan, Sunate; Francis, Charles M; Bates, Paul J. J (2015). "A new genus and species of false vampire (Chiroptera: Megadermatidae) from peninsular Thailand" (PDF). Zootaxa. 3931 (4): 528–50. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3931.4.4. PMID 25781844.
  4. Vaughan, T. A (1976). "Nocturnal Behavior of the African False Vampire Bat (Cardioderma cor)". Journal of Mammalogy. 57 (2): 227–248. doi:10.2307/1379685. JSTOR 1379685.
  5. Nuwer, Rachel (10 May 2016). "The World's Carnivorous Bats Are Emerging From the Dark". Smithsonian.com. The Smithsonian. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
  6. Agnarsson, Ingi; Zambrana-Torrelio, Carlos M; Flores-Saldana, Nadia Paola; May-Collado, Laura J (2011). "A time-calibrated species-level phylogeny of bats (Chiroptera, Mammalia)". PLOS Currents. 3: RRN1212. doi:10.1371/currents.RRN1212. PMC 3038382. PMID 21327164.
  7. Kaňuch, Peter; Aghová, Tatiana; Meheretu, Yonas; Šumbera, Radim; Bryja, Josef (2015). "New discoveries on the ecology and echolocation of the heart-nosed bat Cardioderma cor with a contribution to the phylogeny of Megadermatidae". African Zoology. 50: 53–57. doi:10.1080/15627020.2015.1021711. S2CID 82353183.
  8. Hand, S. J. (1985). "New Miocene megadermatids (Chiroptera: Megadermatidae) from Australia with comments on megadermatid phylogenetics". Australian Mammalogy. 8 (1–2): 5–43.
  9. Hand, S.J.; Dawson, L.; Augee, M. (31 December 1988). "Macroderma koppa, a new Tertiary species of false vampire bat (Microchiroptera: Megadermatidae) from Wellington Caves, New South Wales" (PDF). Records of the Australian Museum. 40 (6): 343–351. doi:10.3853/j.0067-1975.40.1988.160.
  10. Long, J.A.; Archer, M. (2002). Prehistoric Mammals of Australia and New Guinea: One Hundred Million Years of Evolution. UNSW Press. p. 189. ISBN 9780868404356.
  11. Hand, S.J. (1 January 1996). "New miocene and pliocene megadermatids (Mammalia, Microchiroptera) from Australia, with comments on broader aspects of megadermatid evolution". Geobios. 29 (3): 365–377. doi:10.1016/S0016-6995(96)80038-6. ISSN 0016-6995.
  12. Soisook, P. (2017). "Eudiscoderma thongareeae". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T80263386A95642210.
  13. McKenzie, N. & Hall, L. (2008). "Macroderma gigas". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2008: e.T12590A3362578. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T12590A3362578.en.
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