Giant Leaf-nosed Bat

Open encyclopedia reference

The giant roundleaf bat (Macronycteris gigas) is a species of bat in the family Hipposideridae found in western tropical Africa. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and caves. The species was formerly considered part of M. commersoni, which is now viewed as being restricted to Madagascar. Both commersoni and it were formerly placed in the genus Hipposideros, but moved to the resurrected Macronycteris in 2017 on the basis of molecular evidence. It is threatened by habitat loss.

Wikipedia contributors, Giant roundleaf bat; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:38:47.027281+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Macronycteris gigas (Wagner, 1845)

Name authority

(Wagner, 1845)

Common name

Giant Leaf-nosed Bat

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Chiroptera

Family

Hipposideridae

Genus

Macronycteris

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
9. subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
10. infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
11. orderChiroptera Blumenbach, 1779
12. suborderYinpterochiroptera Springer, Teeling, Madsen, Stanhope & Jong, 2001
13. superfamilyRhinolophoidea Gray, 1825
14. familyHipposideridae Lydekker, 1891
15. genusMacronycteris Gray, 1866
16. speciesMacronycteris gigas (Wagner, 1845)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Macronycteris. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 77 records assigned to Hipposideridae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=1141269 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:5TJF2. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.