Re: CHIROPTERAN DIPHYLY

[Betty Cunningham <bettyc@flyinggoat.com>]

a simple (and very general) method is:
bats that wrap their wings around themselves when resting inverted are
megabats
bats that fold the wings up to their sides when resting inverted are
microbats

even simpler:
there are no megabats in North America (nope, not a one)

Matthew Troutman wrote:
> How do you tell a megabat from a microbat?  Its relatively easy.  Most
> megabats are relatively large, while microbats are for the most part,
> very small (certain cryptozoologists believe that there are some
> microbats with 3 meter wingspans; I don't buy it for a second).
> Megabats have a claw on the index finger, while extant microbats lack
> it.  Megabats hang from branches colugo-style, using forelimbs and
> hindlimbs, while microbats use only hindlimbs.  Microbats frequently
> nest in large colonies in the deep recesses of caves, while megabats,
> excluding some species of _Rousettes_, _Dobsonia_, etc (these bats only
> nest around the entrance of caves in not in large groups), tend to stray
> away from caves, preferring trees.  Megabats universally have large eyes
> that they use to navigate with, while microbats have small eyes.
> Megabats do not have a specialized ear structure, while microbats
> usually have a very complicated ear with a tragus and antitragus in the
> caudal portion.  Megabats also tend to be more 'cute', while many
> microbats, especially those with noseleafs, tend not to be.  Except for
> some species of _Rousettes_, megabats do not employ echolation (note
> that the megabat species with echolation use a echolation form that is
> considered non-homologous to the form that microbats use); microbats,
> except for some extremely abberent species, use echolation.  Megabats
> are universal frugivores and nectorivores, while except for some South
> American microbats, microbats do not have anything to do with flowers.

Many more than previously thought in North America have included pollin
in their diets-the agave is bat-pollinated (that's what they make
tequila out of).  Even my personal favorite, Antrozious pallidus-the
pallid bat- has been found eating pollen in the Death Valley area and
parts south east.  That's apart from it's usual diet of ground-caught
scorpions and other large beetles.

-Betty Cunningham