Caring for Pollinators - Bundesamt für Naturschutz

Tschapka Fact sheet pollinators: Bats (Chiroptera)
Bats and pollinated crops
Bat-pollinated plants are utilized by humans in many ways, ranging from fruits like durian
and bananas, to fibres and trees cultivated for their wood. Occasionally, generalist bats of
the genus Glossophaga carry in their fur also pollen from some cultivated plants where they
probably do not contribute much to pollination, but just opportunistically exploit insect –
pollinated flowers, e.g. coconut (Cocos nucifera) or papaya (Carica papaya).
Examples are:
Fruits Other:
Durio zibethinus (Bombacaceae), Durian, O Agave tequilana (Agavaceae), Tequila, N
Musa spp. (Musaceae), Banana, O Agave sisalana (Agavaceae), Sisal, N
Stenocereus spp. (Cactaceae), Pitaya, N Ceiba pentandra, (Bombacaceae), Kapok, O &
N
Anacardium occidentale (Anacardiaceae),
Cashew N
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Crescentia cujete (Bignoniaceae), Calabash
tree, N
Matisia cordata (Bombacaceae), Zapote, N Bombacopsis quinata (Bombacaceae), wood, N
Syzygium jambos (Myrtaceae), Malay apple, O Ochroma pyramidale (Bombacaceae), wood, N
The letters N (New World) and O (Old World) in the table indicate the natural occurrence of
the mentioned species in the respective regions. However, bat-pollinated plants transferred
from one region to the other will frequently get visits from non-coevolved flower-visiting bats,
e.g. the Old World species Musa spp. and Kigelia aethiopica are in the New World readily
visited by glossophagine bats.
Bats and biodiversity of wild plants
While bats pollinate certainly fewer plants than most insect groups, they may play especially
in dry habitats an important role as valuable long-distance pollinators that may cover up to
100 km during just a single night (Horner et al. 1998). Some examples of families with bat
pollinated species are:
Family Selected genera and species:
Bignoniaceae Crescentia alata, C. cujete, Kigelia spp., Parmentiera
spp.
Bombacaceae Bombacopsis quinata, Pseudobombax ellipticum,
Ceiba spp., Matisia spp., Adansonia digitata
Bromeliaceae Werauhia (Vriesea) spp.
Cactaceae Stenocereus spp., Pachycereus spp., Carnegia
gigantea, Weberocereus spp.
Capparaceae Cleome spp., Crataeva spp., Capparis spp.
Caesalpiniaceae Bauhinia spp., Hymenaea courbaril
Fabaceae Mucuna spp., Erythrina spp.