Dobson, 1873
Dawn bats
Externally it resembles Rousettus (RL3) except that the muzzle appears longer and thinner (ES1) and the first finger (second digit) is without a claw. The fifth metacarpal is conspicuously shorter than the third. The tail and calcar are well developed. There are a pair of large anal glands. The tongue is typical of the subfamily Macroglossinae; it is sharply pointed, highly protrusible and with well developed unfringed filiform papillae at the tip. There are usually eight palatal ridges. The skull resembles that of Rousettus (ES6) but is more slender and the occipital region more deflected downwards. In the mandible (Fig. 32), the symphysis is elongated and the coronoid process arises less abruptly than that of Rousettus . There are two pairs of upper and lower incisors (Fig. 5).
Dental formula: i - 2 3 c 1 pm - 2 3 4 m 1 2 - = 34.
1 2 - 1 - 2 3 4 1 2 3
The genus includes 2 species with a geographical range that extends from India to Indonesia and the Philippines. One species is present in the Indian subcontinent:
Eonycteris spelaea