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Although common in parts of EastAfrica and well represented in many museums, the life history of the false vampire bat is poorly known. This bat and the yellow-winged bat (Lavia frons) are the only African members of the family Megadermatidae. The remaining three species in the family occur in southern Asia, the Malayan region, the northern half of Australia, and the Philippine Islands. Members of this family are large for microchiropterans, have huge ears, nose leaves, and broad wings. The only carnivorous bats in the Old World are megadermatids. The Australian ghost bat (Macroderma gigas), one of the largest microchiropterans in the Old World, is largely carnivorous, feeding on vertebrates up to the size of a pigeon (Ride, 1970:160). Megaderma lyra and M. spasma are carnivorous-insectivorous,and Lavia frons is seemingly entirely insectivorous. I can find no information on the diet of Cardioderma cor.
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JOURNAL OF MAMMALOGYThe major objective of this study was an understanding of the nocturnal behavior of Cardioderma throughout the year. The feedi...