Lyle's flying fox (''Pteropus lylei'') is a species of

flying fox ''Pteropus'' (suborder Yinpterochiroptera) is a genus of megabats which are among the largest bats in the world. They are commonly known as fruit bats or flying foxes, among other colloquial names. They live in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Aust ...

in the family Pteropodidae. It is found in

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

and

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

, with an outlying population in

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

, China. It faces persecution from farmers and it is killed for

bushmeat Bushmeat is meat from wildlife species that are Hunting, hunted for human consumption. Bushmeat represents a primary source of animal protein and a cash-earning commodity in poor and rural communities of humid tropical forest regions of the worl ...

in parts of its range.Mickleburgh, S., Waylen, K., & Racey, P. (2009). Bats as bushmeat: a global review. Oryx, 43(02), 217–234. The

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

has rated its conservation status as being " vulnerable".

Description

Lyle's flying fox is a moderate-sized species. It has a long snout, large eyes, pointed ears and a fox-like face. The upper parts are mostly blackish apart from a broad collar of orange fur and sometimes a dark brown or yellowish-brown lower body. The wings are black or dark brown, while the underparts are dark brownish-black.

Distribution and habitat

Lyle's flying fox is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the countries in southern Asia adjoining the

Gulf of Thailand The Gulf of Thailand (), historically known as the Gulf of Siam (), is a shallow inlet adjacent to the southwestern South China Sea, bounded between the southwestern shores of the Indochinese Peninsula and the northern half of the Malay Peninsula. ...

, its range extending from southern Thailand through central and southern Cambodia to the extreme southwestern part of Vietnam. It has also been detected in

Yunnan Province Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

in China. It is gregarious and roosts in tropical and sub-tropical forest,

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

forests and can also occur in plantations and secondary forests. A

colony A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their ''metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often orga ...

of thousands of bats consisting of this species, mixed with the

large flying fox The large flying fox (''Pteropus vampyrus'', formerly ''Pteropus giganteus''), also known as the greater flying fox, Malayan flying fox, Malaysian flying fox, large fruit bat, kalang, or kalong, is a southeast Asian species of megabat in the fam ...

, is to be found at the Bat Pagoda (Khmer Chùa Dơi) in

Sóc Trăng Sóc Trăng (; ) is a city in Vietnam. It is the capital of Sóc Trăng Province. It was upgraded from a town (thị xã) to a city following decree 22/2007/NĐ-CP on 8 February 2007. History During the French colonial period, on December 20 ...

city in the

Mekong Delta The Mekong Delta ( or simply ), also known as the Western Region () or South-western region (), is the list of regions of Vietnam, region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong, Mekong River River delta, approaches and empties into the sea th ...

region of Vietnam. Here the bats roost in trees in the grounds of the temple and are protected by the monks.

Ecology

Like other flying foxes, Lyle's flying fox feeds on fruit; its diet is known to include

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It originated from the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South and Southeast As ...

cashew Cashew is the common name of a tropical evergreen tree ''Anacardium occidentale'', in the family Anacardiaceae. It is native to South America and is the source of the cashew nut and the cashew apple, an accessory fruit. The tree can grow as t ...

, monkey jack,

sapodilla ''Manilkara zapota'', commonly known as sapodilla (), sapote, chicozapote, chicoo, chicle, naseberry, nispero, or soapapple, among other names, is an evergreen tree native to southern Mexico and Central America. An example natural occurrence is ...

dragonfruit Pitaya () or pitahaya () (common names strawberry pear or dragon fruit) is the fruit of several cactus species indigenous (ecology), indigenous to the region of southern Mexico and along the Pacific coasts of Guatemala, Costa Rica, and El Sal ...

, Java apple,

tamarind Tamarind (''Tamarindus indica'') is a Legume, leguminous tree bearing edible fruit that is indigenous to tropical Africa and naturalized in Asia. The genus ''Tamarindus'' is monotypic taxon, monotypic, meaning that it contains only this spe ...

, jambolan and roseapple. It chews the fruit and spits out most of the seeds, but some seeds are swallowed and pass through the bat, resulting in their dispersal. The bat also feeds on flowers, nectar and pollen. While foraging they visit orchards, and may fly between roosts. The bats feed nocturnally but the roosting colony, high in trees, is quite active during the day, with mothers feeding their young and the bats moving around and vocalizing. This bat is a

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

for the

Nipah virus Nipah virus (''Henipavirus nipahense'') is a bat-borne, Zoonosis, zoonotic virus that causes Nipah virus infection in humans and other animals, a disease with a very high mortality rate (40-75%). Numerous disease outbreaks caused by Nipah virus ...

, the causal agent of a newly emerged neurological and respiratory disease which was first reported in 1998. The virus is harmless in bats but can cause a fatal disease in pigs and humans.

Status

The trees in which Lyle's flying fox roosts may become denuded of leaves and the bats may be threatened when the trees die, if they have not been replaced by new plantings. Another threat the bats face is hunting in Thailand and Cambodia and persecution by farmers across their range trying to protect their orchards. The

estimates that populations have declined by more than 30% within the last fifteen years and has rated the conservation status of this flying fox as " vulnerable".

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q635120 Pteropus Mammals described in 1908 Taxa named by Knud Andersen Bats of Southeast Asia Bats as food Taxonomy articles created by Polbot