chiropterans?

Question

can some one tell me more about them???

are they just regular bats or what?

Answer 1

The Chiroptera, or bats, are the second most diverse group of mammals, and are the only mammals ever to evolve true powered flight. The evolutionary origin of chiropterans is still somewhat of a mystery, because the fossil record of bats is scant. Some cladistic analyses indicate that bats are most closely related to the dermopterans, such as Cynocephalus, the colugo or "flying lemur" (which does not fly and is not a lemur). But others suggest that they are not so closely related. However, their ancestors may have been similar in some ecological respects.

Answer 2

Chiroptera is the term used to describe all bats.

They can be further divided into the Microchiroptera, the small mostly insectivorous bats, and the Megachriroptera, which include the larger fruit bats.

Answer 3

Bats are considered a "keystone species" because so many other plants and animals are interdependant with them for survival. Fruitbats are critical for tropical seed dispersal. Nectar-eating bats pollinate and in some cases are the only pollinators for a plant species. Insect-eating bats eat literally tons of insects every night. If we didn't have this natural pest control, we would be overrun with night-flying insects such as moths, beetles, flies and mosquitoes.

There are volunteer opportunities to support research into the behavior of bats. Our local (WA) Nature Conservancy uses volunteers to track the bat population in the Moses Coulee. They track one of the few species audible to humans, the Spotted Bat.
http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/washington/about/art22279.html

Bats seem to prefer organic farms over conventional ones in Britain. On 24 matched pairs of organic and conventional farms, during 2000 and 2002, bat activity was 61% higher on the organic farms, especially over areas of water. The organic farms were also able to attract 88% of the British species compared to 69% found hunting over conventional farms.

Studies of owl pellets indicates they are the major predator of bats along with hawks, merlins, & falcons. Boreal owls are able to take the bat on wing by chasing unlike raptors that drop from above.
Racoons & possums are opportunistic feeders but not as effective as the domestic cat. In a 2003 paper for Mammal Review it was noted that 0.2% of the cats prey were bats.
Phil Richardson, author of 'Bats' notes that “the cat is the only mammal likely to be found on rooftops with sufficient skill to snatch a bat out of the air as it flies past”.