Cynopterus Explained

Cynopterus (Latin meaning: ״flying dog״) is a genus of megabats. The cynopterine section is represented by 11 genera,^[1] five of which occur in Malaysia, namely, Chironax, Balionycteris, Penthetor, Dyacopterus, and Cynopterus. About 30 names for Cynopterus species have been proposed, but only 16 are taxonomically valid forms.^[2]

Species within this genus are:

Genus Cynopterus

• Lesser short-nosed fruit bat (C. brachyotis)
• Horsfield's fruit bat (C. horsfieldii)
• Peters's fruit bat (C. luzoniensis)
• Minute fruit bat (C. minutus)
• Nusatenggara short-nosed fruit bat (C. nusatenggara)
• Greater short-nosed fruit bat (C. sphinx)
• Indonesian short-nosed fruit bat (C. titthaecheilus)

Betacoronavirus

During a survey of Cynopterus brachyotis, it was uncovered that a bat coronavirus (Betacoronavirus) is closely related to the bat coronavirus Rousettus bat coronavirus HKU9 species found in Leschenault's rousette which was discovered in the Guangdong and Yunnan provinces.^[3]

Notes and References

1. Andersen K. 1912. Catalogue of the chiroptera in the collection of the British Museum. Second edition, British Museum of Natural History.
2. Kitchener DJ, Maharadatunkamsi. 1991. Description of a new species of Cynopterus (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae) from Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. Research Western Australian Museum 15(2):307-363.
3. Lim. Xiao Fang. Lee. Chengfa Benjamin. Pascoe. Sarah Marie. How. Choon Beng. Chan. Sharon. Tan. Jun Hao. Yang. Xinglou. Zhou. Peng. Shi. Zhengli. Sessions. October M.. Wang. Lin-Fa. 2019-10-01. Detection and characterization of a novel bat-borne coronavirus in Singapore using multiple molecular approaches. Journal of General Virology. 100. 10. 1363–1374. 10.1099/jgv.0.001307. 31418677. 0022-1317. free. 7079695.