Greater short-nosed fruit bat
| Greater short-nosed fruit bat | |
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_Photograph_By_Shantanu_Kuveskar.jpg) |
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| Hanging Over Foliage Palm In (Mangaon, Maharashtra, India) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Chiroptera |
| Family: | Pteropodidae |
| Genus: | Cynopterus |
| Species: | C. sphinx |
| Binomial name | |
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Cynopterus sphinx (Vahl, 1797) |
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| Greater short-nosed fruit bat range | |
The greater short-nosed fruit bat or short-nosed Indian fruit bat (Cynopterus sphinx) is a species of megabat in the family Pteropodidae. It is found in South and Southeast Asia, where it is known as තල වවුලා (thala wawulaa) by Sinhalese people in Sri Lanka.
These bats have a relatively long snout. Their upper parts are brown to grey-brown with paler under parts. The fur is very fine and silky. The ears and wing bones of C. sphinx are edged in white. Lower cheek teeth rounded without accessory cusps. The wing span of the adult is about 48 cm. Juveniles are lighter than adults. Average forearm length 70.2mm (64-79mm).
It is found in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. C. sphinx is common in tropical forests and areas where fruit crops are cultivated. They can also be found in grassland and mangrove forests. They typically nest high in palm trees. The bats chew the fronds of the palms to construct fairly simple tents. These bats are also known to construct tents by closely interweaving the leaves and twigs of creeping vines which cover buildings, but such nests are constructed only when palms are not available.
The species is gregarious, and typically roosts in same sex groups of 8-9 individuals. The sexes remain separate until the mating season, when group size increases. They are polygynous and it is usual for 6-10 males and 10-15 females to share palm frond tents during the breeding season.C. sphinx is the only non-primate species known to show fellatio, which enhances copulation time in the species. Copulation by males is dorsoventral and the females lick the shaft or the base of the male's penis, but not the glans which has already penetrated the vagina. While the females do this, the penis is not withdrawn and research has shown a positive relationship between length of the time that the penis is licked and the duration of copulation. Post copulation genital grooming has also been observed. Males stay with females for some time after mating, but later return to same sex groups.
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Wikipedia