Megaloglossus woermanni is a tropical species ranging from Guinea to northern Angola and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Biogeographic Regions: ethiopian (Native )

The long-tongue fruit bat is a fairly small pteropodid with head and body length ranging from 60mm to 82mm (Kingdon 1984, Rosevear 1965, and Walker 1997). It has a dark brown appearance dorsally and a lighter brown color ventrally. The hair is fine, soft, and medium in thickness. The tip of the dorsal hair is dark brown and the lower two thirds of the hair is a lighter shade of gray or white. The ventral hair is of a uniform light brown color (Rosevear 1965). Males have a white or cream colored ruff of stiff hair that extends from the sides of the neck to the throat. There is glandular tissue at the base of these hairs that produces a musky odor and makes the pelage oily in texture (Coe 1975). Flight membranes and ears are black. The eyes of M. woermanni are large and it has a long, slender rostrum. Its skull and tongue are highly modified for obtaining nectar. It has a tongue of up to 30 mm in length, terminating in a brush tip of papillae. The dental formula is 2/2 1/1 3/3 2/2 and the teeth are reduced in size compared to other pteropodids (Kingdon 1984, Rosevear 1965). The long-tongued fruit bat has no tail. Its wingspan is between 228 mm and 254 mm (Rosevear 1965).

Range mass: 8.4 to 20 g.

• Terrestrial

Jones (1971) comments that the habitat of M. woermanni is probably highly depedent on the flowers available for food. On Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea, Juste and Perez Del Val(1995) found that M. woermanni occupies various habitats within the island. It is found primarily in cultivated areas, followed closely by lowland rainforest and mossy forest. It has been found to a lesser degree in montane forest. Others report that M. woermanni lives in lowland forest (Kingdon 1984) and elsewhere in the closed high-forest (Rosevear 1965). It has been found at altitudes of up to 2000m (Juste and Perez 1995).

Terrestrial Biomes: rainforest

The diet of M.woermanni consists of nectar and probably pollen. It has a long, protrusible tongue that it presumably dips into an open flower. There is little information on the species of plant it visits or if M.woermanni is a significant pollinator of some species. Kigelia and Musa are the only two species of plants that M.woermanni has been seen visiting (Kingdon 1984). Jones (1971) reports that it is easiest to catch M.woermanni in the agricultural fields of Rio Muni when the coffee plants are blooming most fully.

There is no information available on the reproductive habits of the long-tongued fruit bat. Lactating females have been caught in April, July, August, September, December and February (Kingdon 1984, Nowak 1997 and Wolton et al. 1982). This implies that there is not a distinct breeding season but this has not been confirmed. The breeding season may vary geographically. Wolton et al. (1982) suggest that the breeding season in Nimba, Liberia peaks at the height of the rainy season, August to September. Pregnant females have also been collected at variable times ranging from March to September depending on location (Nowak 1997). There is a report of a female being pregnant with two young, but normally only one young is produced (Nowak 1997).

There is no active conservation effort for M.woermanni.

US Federal List: no special status

CITES: no special status

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern

Occasionally, M.woermanni has be found roosting in huts or homes. It seems to prefer cultivated land and so further encroachments in human space will probably occur.

The long-tongued fruit bat most likely serves as a pollinator of rainforest trees. There has been no research as to how this contributes to their ecosystem. It is, however, highly likely that M.woermanni contributes substantially to promoting tree reproduction in tropical forests, many of which are being logged at a rapid rate.