By Joshua Stumpf
Geographic Range
Megaderma lyra is found from eastern Pakistan and Sri Lanka to southeastern China and the northern Malay Peninsula.
(Lekagul & McNeely, 1977)
Habitat
Megaderma lyra uses day roosts in caves, pits, buildings and hollow trees. These bats reside in more arid areas than M. spasma .
They generally forage less than 1 meter from the ground among trees and undergrowth in tropical forested habitats (Lekagul & MCNeely, 1977).
These animals are found in the following types of habitat:
tropical 
.
Terrestrial Biomes:
forest ; rainforest ; scrub forest .
Physical Description
(1.41 to 2.11 oz; avg. 1.76 oz)
(2.56 to 3.74 in; avg. 3.15 in)
Total body length ranges from 65-95 mm, with weights from 40-60 g. Fur is grayish brown above and whitish gray below (Lekagul & McNeely, 1977). Ears are large and connected above rostrum and there is no external tail (Nowak, 1994).
Some key physical features:
endothermic ; bilateral symmetry .
Reproduction
November through January
Females segregate from males prior to parturition, otherwise both sexes occupy the same roost sites. Other aspects of mating behavior in this species are unknown (Nowak, 1994).
Mating takes place from November through January, with one (occasionally two) young born from April to June. Gestation lasts 150-160 days, with post-natal development following a logistic curve. The sex ratio is balanced at birth. Males are sexually mature by 15 months, females at 19 months (Goymann et al., 1999).
Key reproductive features:
iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; fertilization (internal ); viviparous .
Females carry young with them during foraging until the pups are between one and twenty-three days old, at which point they “park” them at either a day or a special night roost. Young are nursed for 2 to 3 months (Goymann et al., 1999).
Parental investment:
altricial ; female parental care .
Behavior
Asian False Vampire Bats are nocturnal and social. Day roosts contain groups of 3 to 30, although a seasonal colony of 1500 to 2000 was reported in India (Nowak, 1994). Most individuals maintain a distance of approximately 9 cm from conspecifics. Occasionally up to five individuals will roost in contact clusters restricted to mothers and offspring (Goymann et al., 1999).
Food Habits
Megaderma lyra is mostly carnivorous, with a diet consisting of large insects, spiders, and small vertebrates such as bats, birds, rodents, and fish. Prey are detected either by passive listening or with the help of echolocation, then gleaned from the substrate and removed to a night roost where they are consumed (Schmidt et al., 2000; Rajan & Marimuthu, 1999). They will occasionally enter houses to take prey, such as lizards and insects, from the walls (Nowak, 1994).
Primary Diet:
carnivore (eats terrestrial vertebrates, piscivore , insectivore , eats non-insect arthropods).
Animal Foods:
birds; mammals; reptiles; fish; insects; terrestrial non-insect arthropods.
Predation
- snakes (Serpentes)
- viverrids (Viverridae)
- domestic cats (Felis silvestris)
- herpestids (Herpestidae)
- birds of prey (Falconiformes and Strigiformes)
Megaderma species are agile in flight, allowing them to avoid some predation. Although little is known of predation on this species, it is likely that much predation occurs on young in roosts by small predators such as snakes, viverrids, and birds of prey.
Economic Importance for Humans: Negative
There are no known negative effects of Asian False Vampire Bats.
Economic Importance for Humans: Positive
Megaderma lyra will occasionally enter human dwellings to capture prey.
Ways that people benefit from these animals:
controls pest population.
Conservation Status
IUCN Red List: [link]:
Lower Risk - Least Concern.
US Migratory Bird Act: [link]:
No special status.
US Federal List: [link]:
No special status.
CITES: [link]:
No special status.
Populations of Megaderma lyra are not currently threatened.
For More Information
Find Megaderma lyra information at
Contributors
Joshua Stumpf (author), California State University Sacramento.
James Biardi (editor), California State University Sacramento.
