The lesser short-nosed fruit bat (Cynopterus brachyotis) is a species of megabat within the family Pteropodidae.

Kitchener and Maharadatunkamsi considered luzoniensis and minutus as separate species while Hill and Thonglongya[7] transferred angulatus to C. sphinx.

P. lucasi has only one pair of lower incisors, a lack of white edges to the ears and a usually greyer color.

M. ecaudatus usually has a more upturned nose, lacks a bright collar and tail, and has only one pair of lower incisors.

It takes about a year for the male to become sexually mature, and most females become pregnant at approximately six to eight months of age.

Medway observed that breeding was non-seasonal in Peninsular Malaysia and that a single young was produced and carried by the female during the early stage of its life.

[8] Lesser short-nosed fruit bats prefer to roost in small groups in trees, under leaves, and in caves.

[11] To feed, the bats bite off the center part of palm fruit clusters, leaving a hollow for hanging, which is also the method they use to construct a shelter.

Males may spend more than two months chewing the veins of leaves and palm fronds until they fall to form a shelter.

They are widely distributed in Sri Lanka, southwest and northeast India, Bangladesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, southern China, southern Burma, Indochina, Thailand, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Bali, Sulawesi, the Philippines and also on the Lesser Sunda Islands.

[9][13][14][15][16] The nominate subspecies,[4] C. b. brachyotis, is distributed in Borneo, Lombok, Peninsular Malaysia, the Philippines and Sulawesi.

[17] Lesser short-nosed fruit bats are designated a least-concern species by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) because the population is widely distributed, stable and still abundant.