Bats are one of the major components of the indigenous mammalian fauna of Madagascar, in addition to tenrecs, lemurs, euplerid carnivores, and nesomyine rodents.
[1] Most Malagasy bats have their origins in nearby mainland Africa, but on at least three occasions—Pipistrellus raceyi, Pteropus rufus, and the species pair Emballonura atrata–E.
Insectivorous, cave-roosting, and characterized by an elaborate noseleaf, they have often been united with the horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus; absent from Madagascar) into a single family Rhinolophidae, but are currently classified separately.
Macronycteris commersoni is the largest non-pteropodid bat of Madagascar and the extinct Hipposideros besaoka was even larger.
[21] Nycteridae is a small family of 16 species (2005)[3] in a single genus found in Africa and east to the Sunda Islands.
[33] This family contains a single genus, Miniopterus, with 19 species recognized in 2005,[45] which was classified in Vespertilionidae until recently.