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This is the "wing sac" of a Greater White-lined Bat (lemmy.nz)
submitted 1 day ago by ickplant@lemmy.world to c/bats@lemmy.world
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Situated in the wing membrane of both sexes, it is significantly larger, more developed, and only functional in males.

During daily grooming, males actively fill the wing sacs with a composite mixture of urine, saliva, and glandular secretions.

During courtship, a male hovers in front of a female and rapidly fans his wings to direct the potent, information-rich scent mixture toward her to influence mate choice.

The liquid inside the sacs carries complex chemical fingerprints that convey individual identity, age, and other atributes that influence selection.

As a territorial defense males shake or flick the contents of the wing sacs toward rival or intruder bats outside of their harem territory to warn them off.

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[-] anon6789@lemmy.world 13 points 21 hours ago

You missed their related post! Here's big sexy letting all the lady bats get a whiff of that homemade cologne:

Here we see a male Greater White-lined Bat (Saccopteryx bilineata) from east Trinidad, with his harem of females. He is hovering before one of the females while holding open a special sac (or opening) in the front of each wing.

Though initially thought to have a glandular function, these wing sacs are now known to be used by males of the species to actively store secretions from the genital region and the gular gland (sebaceous gland located near the throat of adult males), augmented with a mixture of urine and saliva.

By shaking and thrusting its wings forward as it hovers, the male wafts this combined odour toward the female as she vocalises and wiggles approvingly in response.

this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2026
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