Aru flying fox
| Aru flying fox | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Pteropus aruensis | ||||||||||||
| Peters , 1867 |
The Aru flying dog ( Pteropus aruensis ) is an extremely rare or already extinct species of the actual flying foxes (Pteropodini) from the Indonesian Aru Islands . The species status is controversial.
features
The forehead is mottled gray, black and yellowish white. The back of the head is rusty red. The lower chin is dark rust-colored. The rust-red neck is speckled rust-brown or black. The back is yellowish white with flecked black hair. The belly is black with rust-yellow or rust-brown hair. From the mid-breast down the middle, the color becomes darker brown to black.
Taxonomy and Status
The Aru flying fox was originally described as a subspecies of the black- bearded flying fox ( Pteropus melanopogon ). In 2001, the zoologist Wim Bergmans argued that the Aru flying fox is a separate species. However, this is doubted by the zoologist Kristofer Helgen , who considers the Aru flying fox and the Kai flying fox ( Pteropus keyensis ) to be related. For a long time, the taxon was only known from an old male, which was collected by Odoardo Beccari before 1867 and is now in the Berlin Natural History Museum . During an expedition on the island of Kobroor in October / November 1992, the Australian zoologist Patricia Woolley found a single, toothless jaw that could belong to this species in a Køkkenmøddinger near Namara. However, as the hunting pressure on the Aru Islands is very high, there is also the possibility that this species has already become extinct. The IUCN lists them in the "Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct)" category.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bergmans, W. 2001. Notes on distribution and taxonomy of Australasian bats. I. Pteropodinae and Nyctimeninae (Mammalia, Megachiroptera, Pteropodidae) . Beaufortia 8 (51): pp. 119-152.
- ↑ Helgen, K. 2008. Pteropus aruensis . In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on April 19, 2012.
literature
- Bergmans, W. 2001. Notes on distribution and taxonomy of Australasian bats. I. Pteropodinae and Nyctimeninae (Mammalia, Megachiroptera, Pteropodidae) . Beaufortia 8 (51): pp 119-152.
- Laurie, EMO and Hill, JE 1954. List of land mammals of New Guinea, Celebes and adjacent islands 1758-1952. Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History), London, UK.
- Simmons, NB 2005. Order Chiroptera . In: DE Wilson and DM Reeder (eds.), Mammal Species of the World , pp. 312-529. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD, USA.