The floral biology of Tetrastylis ovalis and its pollination by bats was studied in southeastern Brazil. The flowers of T. ovalis seem more fitted to bat-pollination than those of Passiflora mucronata, the other known chiropterophilous passion flower. Two species of bats were observed visiting flowers of T. ovalis: the phyllostomids Glossophaga soricina and Rhinophylla pumilio. Due to the attributes of Tetrastylis, its presumed primitiveness and a better defined bat-pollination syndrome we suggest that chiropterophily evolved independently in the former genus and in Passiflora.18141732261267