Pteropus aruensis 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 aruensis

description: 187.
Aru Flying Fox
Pteropus aruensis
French: Roussette des Aru / German: Aru-Flughund / Spanish: Zorro volador de Aru
Taxonomy. Pteropus melanopogon var. aruensis Peters, 1867,
“Aruinseln [= Aru Islands],” Indonesia.
Pteropus aruensis 1s in the melanopogon species group. It was previously considered subspecies of P. melanopogon. Monotypic.
Distribution. Aru Is, Indonesia.
Descriptive notes. Head-body 290 mm (tailless), ear 23-30 mm, hindfoot 47 mm, forearm 190-191 mm. Greatest lengths of skulls are 78-90 mm and tibias 83-85 mm. Skull, dentition, and ears are the same shape and size as that of the closely allied Black-bearded Flying Fox (P. melanopogon). Ears are of moderate length, with rounded tips. Fur is adpressed, silky, and longer than that of the Black-bearded Flying Fox, with fur thinly scattered on upperside of forearm in front of elbow and missing from above and beneath forearm, tibia, tip of femur, and uropatagium (except in center and along inner side of femur). Fur is otherwise on underside of wing membranes. Color is similar to that of the Black-bearded Flying Fox on head, mantle, and underparts; differences primarily are that back and rump are silver-white. Whitish color of back is rather rare in species of Pteropus and a distinct characteristic of the Aru Flying Fox. It has distinctly contrasting chestnut-orange mantle, with sprinkles of golden hairs. Mantle is chestnut, chest is golden orange, and belly is buffy. Head is brown on sides, with orange-chestnut to golden orange buffy crown extending between ears onto forehead. Bases of most hairs are golden. Uropatagium is reduced; calcar is small. Wing membranes arise close to spine. Skull is typical pteropine but extremely heavy and robust, with large orbits, crests, and postorbital processes. Rostrum and palate are deep and broad, even wider than in the Large Flying Fox (P. vampyrus), and do not taper anteriorly. Dental formulais 12/2, C1/1,P 2/3. M 2/3 (x2) = 32 because P! is missing. Dentition is heavy, with well-defined but narrow cingulum in upper and lower canines. C, is recurved. P, is slightly smaller than M* and slightly larger than M,. M' is 1-5 times longer than wide.
Habitat. Suspected dependence on mangroves.
Food and Feeding. No information.
Breeding. No information.
Activity patterns. The Aru Flying Fox roosts in forests with low levels of disturbance. Movements, Home range and Social organization. The Aru Flying Fox is presumably gregarious and roosts colonially.
Status and Conservation. CITES Appendix II. Classified as Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct) on The IUCN Red List. The Aru Flying Fox has not been recorded in recent surveys despite being rather large and conspicuously colored. It might have been a target of hunters because there is low food security in this area. There is an unconfirmed record of a bone from an Aru Flying Fox in 1992. More recent interest for converting 92% of primary forest on Aru into plantations would lead to devastating losses of needed habitat.
Bibliography. Andersen (1912b), Corbet & Hill (1992), Obidzinski et al. (2015), Simmons (2005), Tsang (2016h).
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 161, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6448815