This is advantageous considering that the primary prey for most species are the vast hordes of insects that arise at dusk. As their name suggests, they are larger on average than microchiropterans. They also retain some features that are primitive, more like generalized mammals and less specialized than microchiropterans. Megachiropterans are diurnal, with good vision, and do not possess the specialized echolocation seen in microchiropterans. They also possess a long, fox-like snout, which gives them their informal nickname.
Most species feed on fruit.
In contrast, microchiropterans are nocturnal, with echolocation skills rivalling human sonar. As with the earliest birds, the early pterosaurs retained skeletal legacies of their Earth-bound ancestors, including teeth and a long bony tail. Both of these features are absent in many later, more derived pterosaurs. Ideas about pterosaur flight and mode of life have been changing through the years. The presence of a membrane instead of feathers has brought comparison to modern bats, with implications of arboreal ancestry and clumsy, quadrupedal terrestrial locomotion.