Mountain monkey face bat
| Mountain monkey face bat | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Pteralopex pulchra | ||||||||||||
| Flannery , 1991 |
The mountain monkey- faced bat ( Pteralopex pulchra ), also known as the Makarakomburu flying fox , is a little-researched and possibly extinct bat from the genus of monkey -faced bats ( Pteralopex ). It is only known from the holotype, a female collected in May 1990 on the southern slope of Mount Makarakomburu on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands . The type of epithet pulchra means "beautiful".
features
The type specimen has a head-torso length of 161.8 mm, a forearm length of 117.9 mm, a shin length of 56.1 mm, an ear length of 16.8 mm and a weight of 280 g. There is no tail. The species is smaller than the Guadalcanal monkey face bat ( Pteralopex atrata ). The eyes are red. The wings are spotted black and white. The black head and back contrasts with a yellow belly. The fur is long.
habitat
The habitat is moss-covered primary mountain forests at altitudes between 1200 and 2448 m. The predominant flora is represented by ironwoods and palm trees . Ferns and climbing bamboo are dominant in the forest level between the ground and the crown area .
Way of life and status
Nothing is known about the way of life. The female caught in a Japan net was lactating. The IUCN classifies the Montane monkey-faced bat in the category ( "threatened with extinction" critically endangered ) with the addition "possibly extinct" ( possibly extinct ) a. Currently, the population is estimated to be less than 250 specimens, but there has been no intensive search for the species since it was discovered. The habitat is not protected, so hunting pressure and habitat destruction pose serious threats.
literature
- TF Flannery: Mammals of the South-West Pacific & Moluccan Islands . Reed Books, Chatswood, New South Wales 1995. ISBN 0-7301-0417-6 , p. 242