North Queensland Naturalist

Abstract

Eastern Tube-nosed Fruit Bats (Nyctimene robinsoni) have distinctive yellowish spots over the dorsal wing surfaces, ears and nostrils. The externally visible spots serve as camouflage when the bats are at rest during the day. When examined with ultraviolet to violet light, these wing spots photoluminesce bright yellow. The wing surfaces of seven other species of bat exhibited no photoluminescence. Here I present observations of natural photoluminescence in bat skin. The luminophores causing this photoluminescence have not been investigated.