Mammals of the WorldLesser Asian False-vampire
Megaderma spasma
- Order
- Chiroptera
- Family
- Megadermatidae
- Genus
- Megaderma
- IUCN status
- LC
- Distribution
- India|Sri Lanka|Bangladesh|Myanmar|China|Thailand|Laos|Vietnam|Cambodia|Malaysia|Andaman and Nicobar Islands|Singapore|Indonesia|Brunei|Philippines
- Realm
- Indomalaya|Australasia
Other names: Common Asian Ghost Bat|Lesser False Vampire|Malayan False-vampire
About this species
Lesser False Vampire Bat is about 10 cm long with a forearm of about 7 cm and a wingspan up to 30 cm. Its coat is grey-brown to blue-brown, and yellowish veins in the wing give an orange tinge against the light. It eats mostly grasshoppers and moths, and sometimes small vertebrates such as other bats. It roosts in caves, rock crevices, foliage and hollow trees, usually in groups of 3 to 30. (Wikipedia, general species account).
Its eyes are large and forward-pointing, which is unusual for bats and lets it find prey by sight (Wikipedia, general species account). The species 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. Its echolocation pulses are short, low in density and broadband and its large ears are sensitive to echoes returning from their pulses and also sensitive to the sounds that prey generates. (Wikipedia, general species account).
Description: Wildlife of sulawesi guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com); general species information paraphrased from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)