The Franquet's epauletted fruit bat was first described by Robert F. Tomes in 1860 and classified as Epomophorus francqueti from a specimen in the French National Collection forwarded to it by a Dr Franquet of the French Imperial Navy. The habitat location has been mentioned as "Gaboon".[4]
The type location is considered to be as Gabon and no subspecies have been recognised.[5]
It is a tail-less brown bat with large white epaulettes, white on the middle of the belly and white earspots.[6] It has a head and body length 165 to 180 millimetres (6.5 to 7.1 in) and forearm length 74 to 102 millimetres (2.9 to 4.0 in). The body weight of a female bat ranges from 56 to 115 grams (2.0 to 4.1 oz) while that of a male bat ranges from 59 to 160 grams (2.1 to 5.6 oz). Male bats have two pharyngeal sacs and shoulder pouches lined with glandular membranes. The epaulettes are due to white hair tufts and are prominent in dried laboratory specimens but may be concealed due to the shoulder pouches being contracted in the case of live bats.[2] The epaulettes help spread olfactory cues by dispersing chemicals produced in the glandular shoulder patches.[7]