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CAVS: 1300

Species Macroderma gigas (Dobson, 1880)

Ghost Bat

 

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

 

Generic Combinations

  • Macroderma gigas (Dobson, 1880).

 

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia


Extra Distribution Information

"… patchy and widespread …" van Dyck & Strahan (2008: 449)

Australian Endemic.


IBRA and IMCRA regions (map not available)

IBRA

NT, Qld, SA, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Gawler (GAW), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Jarrah Forest (JF), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Ecological Descriptors

Carnivorous, cave dweller, closed forest, desert, gregarious, low open woodland, open forest, predator, tussock grassland.

Extra Ecological Information

Also roosts in mines and deep fissures, preys on vertebrates, captures some prey on ground.

 

General References

Churchill, S.K. & Helman, P.M. 1990. Distribution of the ghost bat, Macroderma gigas (Chiroptera: Megadermatidae) in central South Australia. Australian Mammalogy 13: 149-157

Douglas, A.M. 1967. The natural history of the Ghost Bat, Macroderma gigas (Microchiroptera, Megadermatidae) in Western Australia. Western Australian Naturalist 10: 125-138

Fairfax, R.A. 1982. Notes on the ghost bat Macroderma gigas in captivity. 175 in Evans, D.D. (ed.). The Management of Australian Mammals in Captivity. Proceedings of the Scientific Meeting of the Australian Mammal Society, Healesville, Victoria, February 1979. Melbourne : Zoological Board of Victoria 194 pp.

Filewood, L.W. 1983. The possible occurrence in New Guinea of the Ghost Bat (Macroderma gigas; Chiroptera, Megadermatidae). Australian Mammalogy 6: 35-36

Friend, G.R. & Braithwaite, R.W. 1986. Bat fauna of Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory. Australian Mammalogy 9: 43-52

Guppy, A., Coles, R.B. & Pettigrew, J.D. 1985. Echolocation and acoustic communication in the Australian ghost bat, Macroderma gigas (Microchiroptera: Megadermatidae). Australian Mammalogy 8: 299-308

Guppy, A. & Coles, R.B. 1983. Feeding behaviour of the Australian Ghost Bat, Macroderma gigas (Chiroptera: Megadermatidae) in captivity. Australian Mammalogy 6: 97-99

Guppy, A. & Coles, R.B. 1988. Acoustical and neural aspects of hearing in the Australian gleaning bats, Macroderma gigas and Nyctophilus gouldi. Journal of Comparative Physiology. A. Sensory, Neural and Behavioral Physiology 162: 653-668

Hand, S. & York, A. 1990. Morphological variation in the dentition and skull of the Australian ghost bat, Macroderma gigas (Microchiroptera: Megadermatidae). Australian Journal of Zoology 38: 263-286

Hudson, W.S. & Wilson, D.E. 1986. Macroderma gigas. Mammalian Species No 260. 1-4 pp.

Koopman, K.F. 1984. Taxonomic and distributional notes on tropical Australian bats. American Museum Novitates 2778: 1-48

Kulzer, E., Nelson, J.E., McKean, J.L. & Moehres, F.P. 1984. Prey-catching behaviour and echolocation in the Australian Ghost Bat, Macroderma gigas (Microchiroptera: Megadermatidae). Australian Mammalogy 7: 37-50

Leitner, P. & Nelson, J.E. 1967. Body temperature, oxygen consumption and heart rate in the Australian False Vampire Bat, Macroderma gigas. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 21: 65-74

Molnar, R.E., Hall, L.S. & Mahoney, J.A. 1984. New fossil localities for Macroderma Miller, 1906 (Chiroptera: Megadermatidae) in New South Wales and its past and present distribution in Australia. Australian Mammalogy 7: 63-73

Pettigrew, J., Baker, G.B., Baker-Gabb, D. et al. 1986. The Australian ghost bat, Macroderma gigas, at Pine Creek, Northern Territory. Macroderma 2: 8-19

Pirlot, P. & Nelson, J. 1980. Quantitative aspects of brain morphology in Macroderma gigas (Megadermatidae, Chiroptera). Australian Mammalogy 3: 105-108

Richards, G.C. & Hand, S. 1995. Ghost Bat Macroderma gigas. pp. 446-447 in Strahan, R. (ed.). The Mammals of Australia: The National Photographic Index of Australian Wildlife. Sydney : Reed New Holland 756 pp.

Schulz, M. 1986. Vertebrate prey of the Ghost Bat, Macroderma gigas, at Pine Creek, Northern Territory. Macroderma 2: 59-62

Tidemann, C.R., Priddel, D.M., Nelson, J.E. & Pettigrew, J.D. 1985. Foraging behaviour of the Australian ghost bat, Macroderma gigas (Microchiroptera: Megadermatidae). Australian Journal of Zoology 33: 705-713

Wise, L.Z., Pettigrew, J.D. & Calford, M.B. 1986. Somatosensory cortical representation in the Australian ghost bat, Macroderma gigas. Journal of Comparative Neurology 248: 257-262

Worthington Wilmer, J., Hall, L., Barratt, E. & Moritz, C. 1999. Genetic structure and male mediated gene flow in the ghost bat (Macroderma gigas). Evolution 53: 1582-1591

 

History of changes

Note that this list may be incomplete for dates prior to September 2013.
Published As part of group Action Date Action Type Compiler(s)
12-Dec-2022 CHIROPTERA 12-Dec-2022 MOVED
04-Dec-2018 18-Nov-2010 MOVED
12-Feb-2010 (import)