Nyctimene malaitensis C. J. Phillips 1968
Creators: name: Don E. Wilson
name: Russell A. Mittermeier
Publisher: name: Lynx Edicions
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Chiroptera
Pteropodidae
Nyctimene
Nyctimene malaitensis

description: 107.
Malaita Tube-nosed Fruit Bat
Nyctimene malaitensis
French: Nyctimene de Malaita / German: Malaita-Rohrennasenflughund / Spanish: Nyctimeno de Malaita
Other common names: Malaita Tube-nosed Bat
Taxonomy. Nyctimene malaitensis C. J. Phillips, 1968,
Malaita Island, Solomon Islands.
Nyctimene malaitensis 1s in the albiventer species group. Its taxonomic status is uncertain, and it has been included under N. bougainville, which is included under N. vizcaccia here. Monotypic.
Distribution. Solomon Is (Malaita and Makira); it might also be present on smaller satellite islands, such as Ugi I.
Descriptive notes. Head-body 118 mm, tail 23 mm, ear 14 mm, hindfoot 16 mm, forearm 65 mm (all from holotype). Head of the Malaita Tube-nosed Fruit Bat is broad, and face is deep, with narrow oval-shaped, bluntly pointed ears, and tubular divergent nostrils. Pelage is thick and woolly. Dorsal pelage is dark tawny brown (hairs gray basally, light buff centrally, and ocherous tawny at tips; some hairs entirely with light buff mixed in), with well-defined dark blackish mid-dorsalstripe stretching from shoulders to base of tail. Head appears to be dominated by light ocherous buff hairs, tipped with ocherous tawny, suggesting it is brighter than body. Ventral pelage is grayish toward midline of abdomen (hairs smoke gray) and buffier on throat and flanks (hairs light ocherous buff). Wings have yellow spotting (possibly also ears and nostrils but not described in original description) and are generally dark brown. Second digit of wing has a claw, and wing attaches at second digit of foot. Tail is very short, black, and wrinkled, and narrow uropatagium connects at base and stretches to calcar at ankles. Claws are black. Skull and mandible are robust, rostrum is short, braincase is narrow, zygomatic breadth is relatively narrow, and lambdoidal crests are well developed. Single lower incisor is completely deciduous, falling out before adulthood; lower molars are broad and rounded in dorsal view; C' is slanted posteriorly; C, replaces incisors and is long and powerful; and P, is elongated and longer than P, and P;
Habitat. Lowland primary forests, montane forests, secondary forests, and gardens from sea level up to elevations of ¢. 1100 m.
Food and Feeding. No information.
Breeding. No information.
Activity patterns. No information.
Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.
Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. The Malaita Tube-nosed Fruit Bat is apparently the most commonly captured bat on Makira and Malaita, although it was only known from the type specimen until recently. It is harvested for food on Malaita. There is virtually nothing known aboutits ecology, threats, and taxonomy.
Bibliography. Bergmans (2001), Flannery (1995a), Irwin (2017), Lavery (2017a), Phillips (1968).
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 page 120, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6448815