Family MEGADERMATIDAE

Museums

Regional Maps

Introduction

Found in the tropical and subtropical Ethiopian, Indo-Malayan and Australian Regions, the family of false vampires is represented in Australia only by the endemic large ghost bat, Macroderma gigas. The family is characterised by postorbital processes that are reduced or apparently absent overlain by prominent supraorbital ridges. The premaxilla and upper incisors are not present. There is no articulation between the greater tuberosity of the humerus and the scapula. The second manal digit has only a single phalanx and the third, two.

The ears are large, joined in the mid-line and a conspicuous, bifid tragus is present. The eyes are large and obvious. Complex foliaceous appendages adorn the region of the external nares.

Macroderma gigas is almost exclusively a troglophile and a predator of invertebrates and small vertebrates, including other bats. The species range basically is the northern half of Australia and includes a widely diverse group of habitats.

General References

Nelson, J.E. 1989. Megadermatidae. pp. 852-856 in Walton, D.W. & Richardson, B.J. (eds). Fauna of Australia. Mammalia. Canberra : Australian Government Publishing Service Vol. 1B 827 pp.

History of changes