Dawn fruit bat

Eonycteris spelaea

SUBFAMILY

Macroglossinae

TAXONOMY

Macroglossus spelaeus (Dobson, 1873), Moulmein, Tenasserim, Myanmar.

OTHER COMMON NAMES

English: Cave fruit bat, common nectar-feeding fruit bat, Dobson's long-tongued dawn bat.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Head and body length, 3.3–4.9 in (8.5–12.5 cm); forearm length, 2.6–3.1 in (6.6–7.8 cm); tail length, 0.5–1.3 in (1.2–3.3 cm). Sexual dimorphism in body weight, males weighing between 1.9–2.9 oz (55–82 g) and females weighing 1.2–2.8 oz (35–78 g). Brown pelage with gray mottled ventrum. Males have a frill of longer hairs on the sides of their necks. Has long protrusible tongue with brush at the end.

DISTRIBUTION

Southeast Asia from Myanmar through Indonesia to the Philippines and Sulawesi.

HABITAT

Primary forest and cultivated land.

BEHAVIOR

Gregarious with roosting colonies in caves that number from a dozen to over 10,000, which are, in turn, divided into sexually segregated clusters. Roost in caves. Form associations with Leschenault's rousette (Rousettus leschenaulti). Some, perhaps most, of the individuals observed in roosting camps may be of this species.

FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET

Nectar and pollen from night flowering plants.

REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY

Females appear to come into estrus twice a year, but it is not synchronized with other females or with any particular season. Gestation in the dawn fruit bat has been reported to be 3–4 months; however, other reports suggest gestation is slightly longer than six months. Females become sexually mature by six months, males by one year of age. Thought to be polygamous.

CONSERVATION STATUS

Not threatened.

SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS

Pollinator of many important commercial plant species. Hunted for meat.