Fig 1
Fig 2
Fig 3
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Order : CHIROPTERA
Family : Pteropodidae
Species : Cynopterus minutus
Forearm Length : up to 6.0 cm
Weight : up to 24 grams
Cynopterus minutus
(Forest Short-nosed
Fruit Bat, Minute Fruit Bat) is the smallest of the Cynopterus group.
This bat was formerly regarded as part of the
Cynopterus brachyotis
species complex, but is now broadly treated as a separate species. Its ecology appears to be little studied.
Cynopterus minutus occurs on the islands of Sumatra, Java,
Borneo and Sulawesi.
In Borneo it seems to be largely restricted to tall primary or disturbed
secondary forest. It is known mainly from those lowland areas which still
support good forest, but in some
parts of the island is recorded up to 1800 metres elevation in montane
forest.
In Sulawesi the species is strongly associated with disturbed lowland
habitats, but also occurs in lower montane habitats up to 1200 metres
elevation (Maryanto et al, 2011).
At Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park, Sumatra the species was found to
favour true forest over adjacent disturbed agricultural areas: its small
body allows it to navigate forest habitat dominated by leaves, twigs and
branches which larger species of Cynopterus find less favourable
(Ramadhan et al, 2014).
Fig 1 : Pair from Lambir Hills, Sarawak, Borneo roosting under a leaf of a
wild banana tree. These bats appeared to be noticeably smaller than
Cynopterus brachyotis, and are thus tentatively identified as
Cynopterus minutus.
Fig 2 : Wild banana trees growing along a forest trail at Lambir Hills,
Sarawak create favoured roosting sites for Cynopterus minutus.
Fig 3 : Possible example feeding on a forest fruit at Danum Valley, Sabah,
Borneo.
References :
Maryanto, I., Yani, M., Prijono, S. N. & Wiantoro, S. (2011). Altitudinal
distribution of fruit bats (Pteropodidae) in Lore Lindu National Park,
Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. Hystrix–Italian Journal of Mammalogy (NS),
22(1): 167-177.
Ramadhan, J. & Winarni, N. (2015). Habitat comparison of Cynopterus
fruit bats at Lampung, Sumatra, Indonesia. Taprobanica: The Journal of Asian
Biodiversity, 7(1).
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