Editing Megabat (section)

==Range and habitat==
[[File:Grey-headed flying foxes (Pteropus poliocephalus).webm|upright=1.3|thumb|alt=At dusk, cars drive along a road and a siren is heard in the background. Hundreds of silhouettes of flying foxes are visible as they fly over the road.| Grey-headed flying foxes (''Pteropus poliocephalus'') fly through the suburbs of [[Sydney|Sydney, Australia]].]]
Megabats are widely distributed in the [[tropics]] of the [[Old World]], occurring throughout Africa, Asia, Australia, and throughout the islands of the Indian Ocean and [[Oceania]].<ref name="Almeida 2011"/> As of 2013, fourteen genera of megabat are present in Africa, representing twenty-eight species. Of those twenty-eight species, twenty-four are only found in tropical or [[subtropical]] climates. The remaining four species are mostly found in the tropics, but their ranges also encompass [[temperate climate]]s. In respect to habitat types, eight are exclusively or mostly found in [[forest]]ed habitat; nine are found in both forests and [[savanna]]s; nine are found exclusively or mostly in savannas; and two are found on islands. Only one African species, the [[long-haired rousette]] (''Rousettus lanosus''), is found mostly in [[montane ecosystem]]s, but an additional thirteen species' ranges extend into montane habitat.<ref name="Kingdon 2013">{{cite book| last1=Kingdon| first1= J.| last2= Happold| first2= D.| last3= Butynski| first3= T.| last4= Hoffmann| first4= M.| last5= Happold| first5= M.| last6= Kalina| first6= J.| date= 2013| title= Mammals of Africa| volume=4| publisher= A&C Black|isbn=9781408189962|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/250612228}}</ref>{{rp|226}}

Outside of Southeast Asia, megabats have relatively low species richness in Asia. The Egyptian fruit bat is the only megabat whose range is mostly in the [[Palearctic realm]];<ref name="Benda 2012">{{cite journal|doi=10.2478/s11756-012-0105-y|title=The Egyptian fruit bat Rousettus aegyptiacus (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae) in the Palaearctic: Geographical variation and taxonomic status|journal=Biologia|volume=67|issue=6|year=2012|last1=Benda|first1=Petr|last2=Vallo|first2=Peter|last3=Hulva|first3=Pavel|last4=Horáček|first4=Ivan|pages=1230–1244|bibcode=2012Biolg..67.1230B |s2cid=14907114|url=https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2495&context=kip_articles}}</ref> it and the straw-colored fruit bat are the only species found in the [[Middle East]].<ref name="Benda 2012"/><ref>{{cite iucn|last1=Mickleburgh| first1= S.| last2= Hutson| first2= A.M.| last3= Bergmans| first3= W.| last4= Fahr| first4= J.| last5= Racey| first5= P.A.| year= 2008| title= Eidolon helvum|volume= 2008| page= e.T7084A12824968| doi= 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T7084A12824968.en}}</ref> The northernmost extent of the Egyptian fruit bat's range is the northeastern [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]].<ref name="Benda 2012"/> In [[East Asia]], megabats are found only in China and Japan. In China, only six species of megabat are considered resident, while another seven are present marginally (at the edge of their ranges), questionably (due to possible misidentification), or as accidental migrants.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.3161/150811010X504626|title=Recent Surveys of Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) from China II. Pteropodidae|journal=Acta Chiropterologica|volume=12|pages=103–116|year=2010|last1=Zhang|first1=Jin-Shuo|last2=Jones|first2=Gareth|last3=Zhang|first3=Li-Biao|last4=Zhu|first4=Guang-Jian|last5=Zhang|first5=Shu-Yi|s2cid=86402486}}</ref> Four megabat species, all ''Pteropus'', are found on Japan, but none on its five main islands.<ref>{{cite iucn | author = Vincenot, C. | title = ''Pteropus dasymallus'' | volume = 2017 | page = e.T18722A22080614 | date = 2017 | doi = 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-2.RLTS.T18722A22080614.en }}</ref><ref>{{cite iucn|last1=Maeda| first1= K.| year= 2008| title= Pteropus loochoensis| volume= 2008| page= e.T18773A8614831| doi= 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T18773A8614831.en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite iucn | author = Vincenot, C. | title = ''Pteropus pselaphon'' | volume = 2017 | page = e.T18752A22085351 | date = 2017 | doi = 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-2.RLTS.T18752A22085351.en }}</ref><ref name="Allison, A. 2008 e.T18737A8516291">{{Cite iucn | author = Allison, A. | author2 = Bonaccorso, F. | author3 = Helgen, K. | author4 = James, R. | name-list-style = amp | title = ''Pteropus mariannus'' | volume = 2008 | page = e.T18737A8516291 | date = 2008 | doi = 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T18737A8516291.en }}</ref> In [[South Asia]], megabat species richness ranges from two species in the [[Maldives]] to thirteen species in [[India]].<ref name="S and SE Asia">{{cite web|url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/search?searchType=species|website=IUCN|access-date=24 August 2019| title=<nowiki>Taxonomy=Pteropodidae</nowiki>, <nowiki>Land Regions=West and Central Asia, South and Southeast Asia</nowiki>}}</ref> Megabat species richness in Southeast Asia is as few as five species in the small country of Singapore and seventy-six species in [[Indonesia]].<ref name="S and SE Asia"/> Of the ninety-eight species of megabat found in Asia, forest is a habitat for ninety-five of them.  Other habitat types include human-modified land (66 species), caves (23 species), savanna (7 species), shrubland (4 species), rocky areas (3 species), grassland (2 species), and desert (1 species).<ref name="S and SE Asia"/>

In Australia, five genera and eight species of megabat are present. These genera are ''Pteropus'', ''Syconycteris'', ''Dobsonia'', ''Nyctimene'', and ''Macroglossus''.<ref name="Nelson"/>{{rp|3}} ''Pteropus'' species of Australia are found in a variety of habitats, including [[mangrove]]-dominated forests, [[rainforest]]s, and the [[Sclerophyll#Australian bush|wet sclerophyll forests]] of the Australian bush.<ref name="Nelson"/>{{rp|7}} Australian ''Pteropus'' are often found in association with humans, as they situate their large colonies in [[urbanization|urban areas]], particularly in May and June when the greatest proportions of ''Pteropus'' species populations are found in these urban colonies.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0109810|pmid=25295724|pmc=4190360|title=Are Flying-Foxes Coming to Town? Urbanisation of the Spectacled Flying-Fox (Pteropus conspicillatus) in Australia|journal=PLOS ONE|volume=9|issue=10|pages=e109810|year=2014|last1=Tait|first1=Jessica|last2=Perotto-Baldivieso|first2=Humberto L.|last3=McKeown|first3=Adam|last4=Westcott|first4=David A.|bibcode=2014PLoSO...9j9810T|doi-access=free}}</ref>

In Oceania, the countries of [[Palau]] and [[Tonga]] have the fewest megabat species, with one each. [[Papua New Guinea]] has the greatest number of species with thirty-six.<ref name="Oceania">{{cite web|url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/search?searchType=species|website=IUCN|access-date=24 August 2019| title=<nowiki>Taxonomy=Pteropodidae</nowiki>, <nowiki>Land Regions=Oceania</nowiki>}}</ref> Of the sixty-five species of Oceania, forest is a habitat for fifty-eight. Other habitat types include human-modified land (42 species), caves (9 species), savanna (5 species), shrubland (3 species), and rocky areas (3 species).<ref name="Oceania"/> An estimated nineteen percent of all megabat species are [[endemism|endemic]] to a single island; of all bat families, only [[Myzopodidae]]—containing two species, both single-island endemics—has a higher rate of single-island endemism.<ref>{{cite book| title=Evolution ecology and conservation of Island bats| chapter=Global overview of the conservation of island bats: importance challenges and opportunities| last1=Jones| first1=K. E.| last2=Mickleburgh| first2=S. P.| last3=Sechrest| first3=W.| last4=Walsh| first4=A. L.| editor1-last=Fleming| editor1-first=T. H.| editor2-last=Racey| editor2-first=P. A.| chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272508686| publisher=University of Chicago Press}}</ref>