Great fruit-eating bat

The great fruit-eating bat (Artibeus lituratus) is a bat species found from Mexico to Brazil and Argentina, as well as in Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago.

Great fruit-eating bat
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Chiroptera
Family:	Phyllostomidae
Genus:	Artibeus
Species:	A. lituratus
Binomial name
Artibeus lituratus Olfers, 1818
Synonyms
Artibeus intermedius Allen, 1897

Description

They weigh 10.5 grams (0.37 oz) at birth and grow to 65 grams (2.3 oz) as adults.^[2] The heart of A. lituratus contains unique membranous structures not seen in any other mammal. The functions of these differences are still being studied, but may possibly aid in keeping the heart in the correct position while upside down, flight assistance, and energy reservation.^[3]

In Panama, it has been found that some Artibeus lituratus fly with 18-23g fruits of Dipteryx panamensis (Fabaceae), which is a third of the animal's body weight, up to hundreds of meters from the parent tree. ^[4]

Threats

Reproductive damage within A. lituratus has been linked with the insecticide deltamethrin.^[5]

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