Megabats constitute the
suborder Megachiroptera, and its only family
Pteropodidae of the
order Chiroptera (
bats). They are also called
fruit bats,
Old World fruit bats, or, especially the genera
Acerodon and
Pteropus,
flying foxes. Fruit bats are restricted to the Old World in a tropical and subtropical distribution, ranging no further than the eastern
Mediterranean and
South Asia, and are absent from northwest
Africa and southwest
Australia. Compared to insectivorous bats, fruit bats are relatively large and, with some exceptions, do not navigate by
echolocation. They are
herbivores and rely on their keen senses of sight and smell to locate food.