Common Blossom Bat
Eastern Blossom Bat, Southern Blossom Bat
Click to enlarge image
© Australian Museum
Fast Facts
-
Classification
- Genus
- Syconycteris
- Species
- australis
- Family
- Pteropodidae
- Order
- Chiroptera
- Subclass
- Eutheria
- Class
- Mammalia
- Subphylum
- Vertebrata
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Kingdom
- Animalia
-
- Size Range
- Up to 6 cm.
Introduction
Fawn to reddish-brown, large eyes, long narrow face and a long thin ‘brush-like’ tongue.
Identification
A small nectar feeding bat. It is fawn to reddish-brown in colour above with a paler belly. It has a long narrow face, large eyes and a very long thin tongue, with a brush-like tip.
Habitat
Rainforests, wet eucalypt forests and paperbark swamps.
Distribution
Eastern and north-eastern Australia.
Feeding and diet
Its diet is highly specialised, consisting of nectar and pollen from bottlebrush, paperbark, banksia and gum tree blossoms. It usually lands on flowers to feed, but will often hover in front of them to collect the nectar and pollen. It is an important pollinator of many rainforest plants.
Breeding behaviours
Roosts individually in dense foliage up in the sub-canopy. One young is born in early spring, followed by another in late summer to early autumn.
Danger to humans
Normally harmless, but it is best to avoid handling any bat because they may carry the potentially fatal Australian Bat Lissavirus (ABLV), which is transmitted through scratches or bites.
