SEAVR 2020: 032‐033
ISSN: 2424‐8525
Date of publication: 01 October 2020
Hosted online by ecologyasia.com

Observation of Lesser Dog‐faced Fruit Bat (Cynopterus brachyotis) feeding on
Piper aduncum in Makilala, North Cotabato, Philippines
Andrie Bon A. FLORES & Krizler C. TANALGO
drieflores26@gmail.com (Flores), tkrizler@gmail.com (Tanalgo)

Observer: Andrie Bon A. Flores.
Photograph by: Andrie Bon A. Flores.
Subjects identified by: Krizler C. Tanalgo, Andrie Bon A. Flores.
Location: Purok 6, Barangay Batasan, Municipality of Makilala, North Cotabato Province, Mindanao, Philippines.
Elevation: 1,010 metres ASL.
Habitat: Agricultural area.
Date and time: 11 September 2020, 19:30 hrs.
Identity of subjects:i) Lesser Dog‐faced Fruit Bat, Cynopterus brachyotis (Mammalia: Chiroptera: Pteropodidae).
ii) Spiked Piper, Piper aduncum (Dicotyledonae: Piperales: Piperaceae)
Description of record: During a rapid biodiversity survey in Malasila Watershed in Makilala, North Cotabato, weobserved a Lesser short‐nosed fruit bat (Cynopterus brachyotis) foraging on Spiked Piper (Piper aduncum) (Fig. 1).
We opportunistically observed the fruit bat feeding on base to the tip of the matured tail‐like infructescence of thePiper plant. It took at least 4 minutes for the bat to successfully finish feeding on a single infructescence before
leaving the plant. A supplementary video is included in the references (Flores & Tanalgo, 2020).

Fig. 1© Andrie Bon A. Flores

32Remarks:
The observed fruit bat was identified as a sexually mature Lesser Dog‐faced Fruit Bat, also known as Lesser Short‐
nosed Fruit Bat, (Cynopterus brachyotis) based on its distinct external morphologies such as the (i) the ventral todorsal fur is yellowish‐brown to grey, with golden brown fur in the shoulder to the entire neck part, (ii) whitelinings from the base to the tip of the ears, which is distinct for this species. We cannot identify the sex of theobserved individual. C. brachyotis is a least‐threatened fruit bat that occurs widely in different habitat types fromforests to degraded habitats across the Philippines (Tanalgo & Hughes, 2019). This species is poorly studied interms of its diet and ecological function in the country (Tanalgo & Hughes, 2018).
The plant was identified as Spiked Piper (Piper aduncum): it is a small tree or a shrub that is approximately 7
metres tall, with flowers crowded in the rank of regular transverse and usually white to pale yellow that turns togreen when it becomes mature. P. aduncum is native to Central and South America and is considered invasive inlowland areas of North Cotabato from near forests to degraded habitats such as plantation edges. Although itwas anecdotally reported before that the seeds of this Piper species are dispersed by fruit bats, this is the first
documented report of Piper‐fruit bat interaction in the Philippines. We recommend in‐depth observations on thisinteraction.
References:
Flores, A.B. and Tanalgo, K.C. (2020). Bat‐Piper plant interaction [Video file]:
Figshare https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.12954974.v2
Tanalgo, K.C. and Hughes, A.C. (2018). Bats of the Philippine Islands –a review of research directions and relevanceto national‐level priorities and targets. Mammalian Biology 91:46–56.
Tanalgo, K.C. and Hughes, A.C. (2019). Priority‐setting for Philippine bats using practical approach to guide effective
species conservation and policy‐making in the Anthropocene. Hystrix, the Italian Journal of Mammalogy 30:74‐83.

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