fruitbats

Class: Mammalia

Subclass: Theria

Infraclass: Eutheria

Order: Chiroptera

Suborder: Megachiroptera - 1 family, 166 species; eat fruit, nectar
or pollen.  Navigate by sight.  Found only in the Old World tropics.
Control their body temperature tightly.

Suborder: Microchiroptera - 16 families, 759 species; majority are
insectivorous, some have specialized in meat, fruit, nectar or
blood.  Broad distribution throughout the world, except for the
polar regions and certain islands.  Navigate by echolocation.  Much
less control over body temperature, many hibernate.

The Chiroptera are the secondmost speciose order.  Only Rodentia has
more species.

In Senjecan, in many cases, the name of a particular animal is both
specific and general.  The word for "bat" is _peeþmûûsen_, i.e.,
flying mouse.  This is hardly descriptive of fruitbats, but is
descriptive of the typical bat found in the Urheimat which is the
noctule bat, Nyctalus noctula.  The names of other bats are formed
by prefixing some descriptive element to the typical word
_peeþmûûsen_.  Affixing the diminutive suffix gives _peeþmûûslen_,
the pipestrelle bat, P. pipestrellus.

Fruitbats were unknown until after the dispersion from the Urheimat,
so a word was coined, _peeþpûcen_, i.e., flying fox.  This word is
an example of prefixing a descriptive prefix to a word denoting a
known animal.

Charlie
http://wiki.frath.net/user:caeruleancentaur

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