Rousettus
genus of mammals
Rousettus is a genus of Old World fruit bats or megabats, referred to as rousette bats. The genus is a member of the family Pteropodidae. The genus consists of seven species that range over most of Africa to southeast Asia, and the islands of the south Pacific. They are among the few megabats capable of echolocation, and the only genus of megabats known to use vocal echolocation.
Classification
Genus Rousettus – rousette fruit bats
Geoffroy's rousette, R. amplexicaudatus
Egyptian fruit bat or Egyptian rousette, R. aegyptiacus
Leschenault's rousette, R. leschenaulti
Linduan rousette, R. linduensis
Comoro rousette, R. obliviosus
Bare-backed rousette, R. spinalatus
Madagascan rousette, R. madagascariensis
The species in the genera Boneia, Stenonycteris, and Pilonycteris were also formerly classified in Rousettus, but phylogenetic analysis supports them being their own genera.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Rousettus” is genus of mammals. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Rousettus, genus and mammals, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “genus of mammals” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1189557. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Rousettus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.