Nyctimene raboriPhilippine tube-nosed fruit bat

Geographic Range

Nyctimene rabori is found on Negros, Cebu, and Sibuyan Islands, in the central Philippines. (Heaney and et. al., 2002)

Habitat

Nyctimene rabori is found only in tropical, forested areas, and probably mainly utilizes the high canopy.

Physical Description

The striking physical features from which this animal gets its name are its tubular nostrils, which are separate and are about 6mm long. Body coloration is sexually dimorphic, with females being a light golden brown or buff color, and males a darker, more chocolatey brown. Both sexes have a dark stripe extending from the shoulders to the tail and light spots on their ears and wings. The bats measure about 142 mm in total length, with tail 25 mm, ear 20 mm and forearm 76 mm.

Reproduction

Reproduction is known to occur in May and June, based on a small number of specimens that were collected while lactating (females) or in breeding condition (males). The duration of the breeding season and other details of the species' reproductive behavior have not yet been studied by researchers.

  • Key Reproductive Features
  • gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
  • sexual

Behavior

The behavioral repertoire of this species has not yet been described.

Communication and Perception

Food Habits

Little is yet known about the habits of this recently (1984) described species, but, like other Nyctimene species, it probably eats a variety of local fruits and perhaps some insects as well.

Economic Importance for Humans: Positive

Tube-nosed fruit bats are dispersers of fruit tree seeds, and may help control pest insect populations.

Conservation Status

Human activities have resulted in the loss of much of this tube-nosed fruit bat's forest habitat. If the forest fragments where it still lives are adequately protected, the species may survive.

Other Comments

The discovery of N. rabori is of particular interest because, like three other genera of fruit bats, Nyctimene occurs on Celebes and in the Philippines but not on Borneo. This group therefore transcends Wallace's line, the zoogeographic boundary of the Oriental faunal region that follows the edge of Asia's continental shelf. This pattern of species distributions is very different from the pattern for other mammals, and is probably due to the vastly increased dispersal abilities of flying mammals.

Contributors

Deborah Ciszek (author), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

Glossary

bilateral symmetry

having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.

chemical

uses smells or other chemicals to communicate

endothermic

animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.

island endemic

animals that live only on an island or set of islands.

motile

having the capacity to move from one place to another.

native range

the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.

oriental

found in the oriental region of the world. In other words, India and southeast Asia.

World Map

rainforest

rainforests, both temperate and tropical, are dominated by trees often forming a closed canopy with little light reaching the ground. Epiphytes and climbing plants are also abundant. Precipitation is typically not limiting, but may be somewhat seasonal.

sexual

reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female

tactile

uses touch to communicate

terrestrial

Living on the ground.

tropical

the region of the earth that surrounds the equator, from 23.5 degrees north to 23.5 degrees south.

References

Heaney, L.R. and R.L. Peterson. 1984. "A New Species of Tube-Nosed Fruit Bat (Nyctimene) from Negros Island, Philippines (Mammalia: Pteropodidae)." Occasional Papers of the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, No. 708.

Nowak, R.M. 1994. Walker's Bats of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.

Heaney, L., et. al.. 2002. "Nyctimene rabori" (On-line). A Synopsis of the Mammalian Fauna of the Phillippine Islands. Accessed August 18, 2004 at http://www.fmnh.org/philippine_mammals/Nyctimene_rabori.htm.