Megabat in the context of "Ebola"

Bats (order Chiroptera /kaɪˈrɒptərə/) are winged mammals; the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their long spread-out digits covered with a thin membrane or patagium. The smallest bat, and one of the smallest extant mammals, is Kitti's hog-nosed bat, which is 29–33 mm (1.1–1.3 in) in length, 150 mm (5.9 in) across the forearm and 2 g (0.071 oz) in mass. The largest bats are the flying foxes, with the giant golden-crowned flying fox (Acerodon jubatus) reaching a weight of 1.5 kg (3.3 lb) and having a wingspan of 1.6 m (5 ft 3 in).

The second largest order of mammals after rodents, bats comprise about 20% of all classified mammal species worldwide, with at least 1,500 known species. These were traditionally divided into two suborders: the largely fruit-eating megabats, and the echolocating microbats. But more recent evidence has supported dividing the order into Yinpterochiroptera and Yangochiroptera, with megabats as members of the former along with several species of microbats. Many bats are insectivores, and most of the rest are frugivores (fruit-eaters) or nectarivores (nectar-eaters). A few species feed on animals other than insects; for example, the vampire bats are haematophagous (feeding on blood). Most bats are nocturnal, and many roost in caves or other refuges; it is uncertain whether bats have these behaviours to escape predators. Bats are distributed globally in all except the coldest regions. They are important in their ecosystems for pollinating flowers and dispersing seeds as well as controlling insect populations.

Orthoebolavirus zairense or Zaire ebolavirus, more commonly known as Ebola virus (/iˈboʊlə, ɪ-/; EBOV), is one of six known species within the genus Ebolavirus. Four of the six known ebolaviruses, including EBOV, cause a severe and often fatal hemorrhagic fever in humans and other mammals, known as Ebola virus disease (EVD). Ebola virus has caused the majority of human deaths from EVD, and was the cause of the 2013–2016 epidemic in western Africa, which resulted in at least 28,646 suspected cases and 11,323 confirmed deaths.

Ebola virus and its genus were both originally named for Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), the country where it was first described, and was at first suspected to be a new "strain" of the closely related Marburg virus. The virus was renamed "Ebola virus" in 2010 to avoid confusion. Ebola virus is the single member of the species Zaire ebolavirus, which is assigned to the genus Ebolavirus, family Filoviridae, order Mononegavirales. The members of the species are called Zaire ebolaviruses. The natural reservoir of Ebola virus is believed to be bats, particularly fruit bats, and it is primarily transmitted between humans and from animals to humans through body fluids.

The giant golden-crowned flying fox (Acerodon jubatus), also known as the golden-capped fruit bat, is a species of megabat endemic to the Philippines. Since its description in 1831, three subspecies of the giant golden-crowned flying fox have been recognized, one of which is extinct. The extinct subspecies (A. jubatus lucifer) was formerly recognized as a full species, the Panay golden-crowned flying fox. Formerly, this species was placed in the genus Pteropus; while it is no longer within the genus, it has many physical similarities to Pteropus megabats. It is one of the largest bat species in the world, weighing up to 1.4 kg (3.1 lb)—only the Indian and great flying fox can weigh more. It has the longest documented forearm length of any bat species at 21 cm (8.3 in).

It is primarily frugivorous, consuming several kinds of fig and some leaves. It forages at night and sleeps during the day in tree roosts. These roosts can consist of thousands of individuals, often including another species, the large flying fox. Not much is known about its reproduction; it gives birth annually from April through June, with females having one pup at a time. Predators of the giant golden-crowned flying fox include raptors such as eagles, the reticulated python, and humans.

The Yinpterochiroptera (or Pteropodiformes) is a suborder of the Chiroptera, which includes taxa formerly known as megabats and five of the microbat families: Rhinopomatidae, Rhinolophidae, Hipposideridae, Craseonycteridae, and Megadermatidae. This suborder is primarily based on molecular genetics data. This proposal challenged the traditional view that megabats and microbats form monophyletic groups of bats. Further studies are being conducted, using both molecular and morphological cladistic methodology, to assess its merit.

The term Yinpterochiroptera is constructed from the words Pteropodidae (the family of megabats) and Yinochiroptera (a term proposed in 1984 by Karl F. Koopman to refer to certain families of microbats).Recent studies using transcriptome data have found strong support for the Yinpterochiroptera-Yangochiroptera classification system.Researchers have created a relaxed molecular clock that estimates the divergence between Yinpterochiroptera and Yangochiroptera around 63 million years ago. The most recent common ancestor of Yinpterochiroptera, corresponding to the split between Rhinolophoidea and Pteropodidae (Old World Fruit bats), is estimated to have occurred 60 million years ago.

Bats (order Chiroptera /kaɪˈrɒptərə/) are winged mammals; the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their long spread-out digits covered with a thin membrane or patagium. The smallest bat, and one of the smallest extant mammals, is Kitti's hog-nosed bat, which is 29–33 mm (1.1–1.3 in) in length, 150 mm (5.9 in) across the forearm and 2 g (0.071 oz) in mass. The largest bats are the flying foxes, with the giant golden-crowned flying fox (Acerodon jubatus) reaching a weight of 1.5 kg (3.3 lb) and having a wingspan of 1.6 m (5 ft 3 in).

The second largest order of mammals after rodents, bats comprise about 20% of all classified mammal species worldwide, with at least 1,500 known species. These were traditionally divided into two suborders: the largely fruit-eating megabats and the echolocating microbats. But more recent evidence has supported dividing the order into Yinpterochiroptera and Yangochiroptera, with megabats as members of the former along with several species of microbats. Many bats are insectivores, and most of the rest are frugivores (fruit-eaters) or nectarivores (nectar-eaters). A few species feed on animals other than insects; for example, the vampire bats are haematophagous (feeding on blood). Most bats are nocturnal, and many roost in caves or other refuges; it is uncertain whether bats have these behaviours to escape predators. Bats are distributed globally in all except the coldest regions. They are important in their ecosystems for pollinating flowers and dispersing seeds as well as controlling insect populations.