Pteropus tuberculatus Peters 1869
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 tuberculatus

description: 167.
Vanikoro Flying Fox
Pteropus tuberculatus
French: Roussette de Vanikoro / German: Vanikoro-Flughund / Spanish: Zorro volador de Vanikoro
Other common names: Samoan Flying Fox
Taxonomy. Pteropus tuberculatus Peters, 1869,
type locality not given. Restricted by E. Le G. Troughton in 1927 to “Vanikoro Island, Santa Cruz Group,” Solomon Islands.
Classified in the samoensis species group. Monotypic.
Distribution. Temotu (= Santa Cruz) Is on Vanikoro (= Vanikolo) and Teanu (= Tevai).
Descriptive notes. Head-body 136- 170 mm (tailless), ear 15-26 mm, hindfoot 35-38 mm, forearm 112-130 mm; weight 230 g (mean). The Vanikoro Flying Fox is dark brown, with strong dentition. Muzzle is short and narrow, and rhinarium is black, with shortly tubular nostrils. Eyes are mediumsized, with reddish brown irises. Ears are medium-sized, partly concealed in fur, and wide at bases. Fur is rather short and woolly. Head has grizzled blackish brown cheeks, and crown is brownish tawny-olive. Mantle is mummy brown, darker than crown and back, and tinged with dark brown. Color of mantle continues around sides to undersurface of neck. Neck glands on males have ocherous tawny tufts of hairs. Back is tawny sepia, tinged with russet and sprinkled with long silvery hairs. Tibia is furred on upper side for proximal one-half to two-thirds. Chest and belly are sepia, grizzled with shining buff and russet hairs. Sides of belly and undersurface of arms are dark wood brown. Wing membranes are dark brown, with sparse light auburn hairs on undersurface along proximal one-half of forearm and outward to a line between elbow and knee. Skull is typical pteropine, with pointed rostrum, long postorbital processes, and wide zygomatic arches. Mandible is strongly built. I, is very large (4-5 times the bulk of I). Cingula of upperincisors and upper and lower canines are strongly developed. C' is large, with small cusp-like projection on hinder trenchant margin at about the middle of the tooth.
Habitat. [Lowland forests and agroforests at sea level (full elevational range is unknown).
Food and Feeding. In April, Vanikoro Flying Foxes were feeding on Artocarpus altilis (Moraceae) in the early afternoon; in September, coconut inflorescence formed a major part of diet.
Breeding. No information.
Activity patterns. The Vanikoro Flying Fox is partly crepuscular; activity in April peaked between 16:00 h and 18:00 h, presumably to avoid competition with the sympatric Pacific Flying Fox (P. tonganus). The Vanikoro Flying Fox roosts among foliage in lower canopies.
Movements, Home range and Social organization. Vanikoro Flying Foxes roost alone Or In pairs.
Status and Conservation. CITES Appendix II. Classified as Critically Endangered on The IUCN Red List. Population of the Vanikoro Flying Fox is likely small, and Vanikoro Island is only 189 km ®. Vanikoro was extensively logged in the 1950s and 1960s, and logging is again occurring on parts of the island. Because there were no records of the Vanikoro Flying Fox after the 1930s, it was presumed to be extinct, but it was recently detected (2014) on Vanikoro.
Bibliography. Andersen (1912b), Flannery (1995a), Leary, Hamilton & James (2008b), Pierce (2014), Troughton (1927).
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 151, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6448815