Order Chiroptera: Species, Characteristics and their Economic Importance

July 3, 2023 Agric4Profits

Chiroptera means ‘hand-winged’. Bats are the only mammals possessing the ability of flight. Their wings consist of a fold of skin which stretches from the fingers along the arms and sides of the body to the hind legs. The wing is a membrane of naked living skin supported by
the elongated second, third, fourth and fifth digits of the forelimbs.

The hind limbs, in contrast to the forelimbs, are short with well-developed claws which are mainly used to suspend the body head downwards when at rest. The bodies of many bats are so small and light.

Bats are almost exclusively nocturnal. They fly at night in search of food, leaving their place of rest in the evening and returning home as the sun rises. They either live in large colonies or they may live alone in small families. In Nigeria, they are found in all vegetation zones. There are two main suborders under chiroptera. They are:

(i) Micro-chiroptera (insectivorous bats)

(ii) Mega-Chiroptera (fruit-eating bats)

The fruit bats are fairly large and can cause serious damage to commercial fruit crops. The insect-eating bats are generally smaller than the fruit bats.

Straw-coloured Fruit-bat (Eidolon helvum)

Identification: Dorsal pelage dull yellow or brownish-yellow; hairs dark at base with dull yellow tips; ventral pelage paler. Head is large with naked muzzle and lips; large eyes. No white basal ear-tufts, no white facial markings and no white epaulets.

Wings large and dark; dorsal pelage extends along upper border of humerus. Palate with four undivided ridges, two narrow and two wide, followed by four divided but well-defined ridges which extend to outer margins of palate.

Straw-coloured fruit bats are probably the most popular of Nigerian bats because they live in large colonies of up to half a million individuals. They eat a wide variety of fruits and also leaves, nectar, and sap. They breed once in a year.