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Bats: A Glimpse on Their Astonishing Morphology and Lifestyle

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Bats (Chiroptera) as Vectors of Diseases and Parasites

Part of the book series: Parasitology Research Monographs ((Parasitology Res. Monogr.,volume 5))

Abstract

Bats (zool. Chiroptera) are unique in the zoological group of Mammalia with respect to their morphology, their lifestyle, their capacity to fly and to orientate themselves during the darkest nights and by the fact that they succeeded in extending their biotopes over all continents except for Antarctica and the Northern arctic regions. Due to their nocturnal activity and their resting, respectively, slee** during daytime at hidden places, information on this group remained scarce compared to other mammalians. Thus this chapter aims to throw some short glimpses on their morphology and on some other astonishing peculiarities.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Zoomorphology, Cytology and Parasitology, Heinrich Heine University, Universitätsstr. 1, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Volker Walldorf

  2. Institute for Parasitology, Heinrich Heine University, Universitätsstr. 1, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Heinz Mehlhorn

Authors
  1. Volker Walldorf
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  2. Heinz Mehlhorn
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Correspondence to Heinz Mehlhorn .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Biodiv. and Climate Research Centre, Goethe-University, Frankfurt, Germany

    Sven Klimpel

  2. Department of Zoomorphology, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Heinz Mehlhorn

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Walldorf, V., Mehlhorn, H. (2014). Bats: A Glimpse on Their Astonishing Morphology and Lifestyle. In: Klimpel, S., Mehlhorn, H. (eds) Bats (Chiroptera) as Vectors of Diseases and Parasites. Parasitology Research Monographs, vol 5. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39333-4_2

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