Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Infraclass:	Eutheria
Superorder:	Laurasiatheria[1]
Order:	Chiroptera Blumenbach, 1779

Bat

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Bat (disambiguation).

Bat Temporal range: 52–0 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N Early Eocene – Recent
Townsend's big-eared bat, Corynorhinus townsendii
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Infraclass:	Eutheria
Superorder:	Laurasiatheria[1]
Order:	Chiroptera Blumenbach, 1779
Suborders
See article
Worldwide distribution of bat species

Bats are mammals of the orderChiroptera ( /kaɪˈrɒptərə/; from the Greek χείρ - cheir, "hand"^[2] and πτερόν - pteron, "wing"^[3]) whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustainedflight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such asflying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, gliderather than fly, and can only glide for short distances. Bats do not flap their entire forelimbs, as birds do, but instead flap their spread-outdigits,^[4] which are very long and covered with a thinmembrane or patagium.

Bats represent about 20% of all classified mammal species worldwide, with about 1,240 bat species divided into two suborders: the less specialized and largely fruit-eating 'megachiroptera', or flying foxes, and the more highly specialized and echolocating 'microchiroptera'.^[5] About 70% of bats are insectivores. Most of the rest are frugivores, or fruit eaters. A few species, such as the fish-eating bat, feed from animals other than insects, with the vampire batsbeing the only parasitic mammalian species. Bats are present throughout most of the world, performing vital ecological roles of pollinating flowers and dispersing fruit seeds. Many tropical plant species depend entirely on bats for the distribution of their seeds. Bats are important in eating insect pests, reducing the need for pesticides. The smallest bat is the Kitti's hog-nosed bat, measuring 29–34 mm (1.14–1.34 in) in length, 15 cm (5.91 in) across the wings and 2–2.6 g (0.07–0.09 oz) in mass.^[6][7] It is also arguably the smallest extant species of mammal, with the Etruscan shrew being the other contender.^[8] The largest species of bat are a few species of Pteropus and thegiant golden-crowned flying fox with a weight up to 1.6 kg (4 lb) and wingspan up to 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in).^[9]

BATS.

Kingdom:

Animalia

Phylum:

Chordata

Class:

Mammalia

Infraclass:

Eutheria

Superorder:

Laurasiatheria^[1]

Order:

Chiroptera
Blumenbach, 1779

Townsend's big-eared bat, Corynorhinus townsendii

Kingdom:

Animalia

Phylum:

Chordata

Class:

Mammalia

Infraclass:

Eutheria

Superorder:

Laurasiatheria^[1]

Order:

Chiroptera
Blumenbach, 1779

See article

Worldwide distribution of bat species

SnowdropGalanthus nivalis is the best-known and most widespread representative of the genus Galanthus. It is native to a large area of Europe, stretching from the Pyrenees in the west, through France and Germany to Poland in the north, Italy, Northern Greece, Ukraine, and European Turkey. It has been introduced and is widely naturalised elsewhere. Although it is often thought of as a British native wild flower, or to have been brought to the British Isles by the Romans, it was probably introduced around the early sixteenth century and is currently not a protected species in the UK.

Common Snowdrop
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
clade:	Angiosperms
clade:	Monocots
Order:	Asparagales
Family:	Amaryllidaceae
Subfamily:	Amaryllidoideae
Genus:	Galanthus

White backed Vulture