Data from: Bat trait, genetic and pathogen data from large-scale investigations of African fruit bats (Eidolon helvum)

Bats, including African straw-coloured fruit bats (Eidolon helvum), have
been highlighted as reservoirs of many recently emerged zoonotic viruses.
This common, widespread and ecologically important species was the focus
of longitudinal and continent-wide studies of the epidemiological and
ecology of Lagos bat virus, henipaviruses and Achimota viruses. Here we
present a spatial, morphological, demographic, genetic and serological
dataset encompassing 2827 bats from nine countries over an 8-year period.
Genetic data comprises cytochrome b mitochondrial sequences (n=608) and
microsatellite genotypes from 18 loci (n=544). Tooth-cementum analyses
(n=316) provide rare age-specific serologic data for a lyssavirus, a
henipavirus and two rubulaviruses. This dataset contributes a substantial
volume of data on the ecology of E. helvum and its viruses and will be
valuable for a wide range of studies, including viral transmission dynamic
modelling in age-structured populations, investigation of seasonal
reproductive asynchrony in wide-ranging species, ecological niche
modelling, inference of island colonisation history, exploration of
relationships between island and body size, and various spatial analyses
of demographic, morphometric or serological data.