Pteropus temminckii Peters 1867
Creators: name: Don E. Wilson
name: Russell A. Mittermeier
Publisher: name: Lynx Edicions
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Chiroptera
Pteropodidae
Pteropus
Pteropus temminckii

description: 172.
Temminck’s Flying Fox
Pteropus temminckii
French: Roussette de Temminck / German: Temminck-Flughund / Spanish: Zorro volador de Temminck
Taxonomy. Pteropus temminckii Peters, 1867,
“Samao [= Samoa], Amboina [Island],” Moluccas, Indonesia.
Sometimes spelled temmincki but the original spelling was temmainckii. Pteropus temmincki is the only memberof the temminckii species group. Monotypic.
Distribution. C Moluccas Is (Buru, Ambon, Seram, and nearby small islands).
Descriptive notes. Head-body 151-170 mm (tailless), ear 19-21 mm, hindfoot 30- 31 mm, forearm 94-108 mm; weight 145-155 g. Greatest lengths of skulls are 49-— 51 mm and tibias 41-49 mm. Temminck’s Flying Fox has slender,slightlylaterally compressed rostrum. It is generally silvery blond to pale brown throughout, with flecks from white-tipped hairs all around. Bases of hairs are dark brown to black. Mantle, fore neck, and sides of neck are particularly golden to golden bufty, at times with hint of ocherous bufty in fore neck. Fur is somewhat dense and moderately long and silky, covering proximal one-half of forearm and tibia down to ankle. Ears are moderate in length and broad, with somewhat rounded tips. Wing membranes are brown. Skull is pteropine; orbits are very large; and front of orbit is above middle or posterior of P, which is rather unusual. Sagittal crest is undeveloped, and temporal crests remain separated, always resulting in postorbital broader than interorbital constriction. Coronoid process along with dentition is weak, and coronoid height of mandible is much less than length of lower tooth row. C' is rather slender, with deep vertical groove and moderately sized cingulum. P* is rather rudimentary.
Habitat. Primary and secondary broadleaf forests and mangrove forests from sea level up to elevations of ¢. 800 m. Temminck’s Flying Fox is tolerant of some degree of habitat disturbance but prefers pristine lowland habitat when available. Due to habitat loss, forests in Central Maluku are now often only small patches of secondary forest (some of which are orchards and gardens) between human settlements. It is found relatively frequently in these patches compared with co-occurring species of Pteropus in Central Maluku. Use of each type of forest as roosting sites is difficult to evaluate due to the solitary nature of Temminck’s Flying Fox, and no foliage roosts have been recorded.
Food and Feeding. There are few direct records on diets of Temminck’s Flying Foxes, but there have been anecdotal stories of it feeding on Ceiba pentandra (Malvaceae), Ficus spp. (Moraceae), and Syzygium spp. (Myrtaceae). Weak dentition suggests some degree of nectarivory, much like other smaller-bodied species of Pacific Island Pteropus.
Breeding. No information.
Activity patterns. Temminck’s Flying Fox is nocturnal.
Movements, Home range and Social organization. Temminck’s Flying Fox is solitary, making it difficult to track.
Status and Conservation. CITES Appendix II. Classified as Vulnerable on The IUCN Red List. It is suspected that populations of Temminck’s Flying Fox have declined more than 30% due to ongoing degradation of rather limited habitat on the small islands of Maluku, along with some level of local hunting. Rangers in Manusela National Park (Seram, Indonesia) have noted that it was found in the park, but species identity needs to be verified. Villagers occasionally hunt Temminck’s Flying Foxes as snacks, but impact of this on the population is difficult to evaluate.
Bibliography. Andersen (1912b), Corbet & Hill (1992), Flannery (1995a), Simmons (2005), Tsang (2016m), Tsang et al. (2015).
description: Published as part of Don E. Wilson & Russell A. Mittermeier, 2019, Pteropodidae, pp. 16-162 in Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 9 Bats, Barcelona :Lynx Edicions on pages 152-153, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6448815