Andersen's naked-backed fruit bat or Andersen's bare-backed fruit bat (''Dobsonia anderseni'') is a large cave-dwelling species of

megabat Megabats constitute the family Pteropodidae of the order Chiroptera (bats). They are also called fruit bats, Old World fruit bats, or—especially the genera ''Acerodon'' and ''Pteropus''—flying foxes. They are the only member of the su ...

in the family Pteropodidae. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the

Bismarck Archipelago The Bismarck Archipelago (, ) is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about 50,000 square km. History The first inhabitants o ...

including the

Admiralty Islands The Admiralty Islands are an archipelago group of 18 islands in the Bismarck Archipelago, to the north of New Guinea in the South Pacific Ocean. These are also sometimes called the Manus Islands, after the largest island. These rainforest-co ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

Taxonomy and etymology

It was described as a new species in 1914 by British zoologist

Oldfield Thomas Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas (21 February 1858 – 16 June 1929) was a British zoologist. Career Thomas worked at the Natural History Museum on mammals, describing about 2,000 new species and subspecies for the first time. He was appoin ...

. The

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

used to describe the species was collected by

Albert Stewart Meek Albert Stewart Meek (26 October 1871 – 1 October 1943) was an English bird collector and naturalist. Biography Meek was born on 26 October 1871 in Bow, London, the son of a merchant in natural history. In 1893 he travelled to Australia and ...

and his brother-in-law, Albert Frederic Eichhorn, in October 1913. The

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

for the

species name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

"''anderseni''" is Danish mammalogist Knud Andersen. Of Andersen, Thomas wrote: "I have named the species in honour of Dr. K. Andersen, in recognition of the striking monograph of ''Dobsonia'' contained in his Catalogue, a monograph which has entirely revolutionized our knowledge of the group."

Description

Its forearm length is . Its fur is very dark brown, with its head nearly black.

Range and habitat

Its range includes several islands of

. It has been documented at elevations up to above sea level.

Conservation

As of 2020, it is listed as a

least-concern species A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

. Threats to this species include

overharvesting Overexploitation, also called overharvesting, refers to harvesting a renewable resource to the point of diminishing returns. Continued overexploitation can lead to the destruction of the resource, as it will be unable to replenish. The term app ...

for

bushmeat Bushmeat is meat from wildlife species that are hunted for human consumption, most often referring to the meat of game in Africa. Bushmeat represents a primary source of animal protein and a cash-earning commodity for inhabitants of humid tropi ...

or disturbance of the caves where it roosts during the day.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q137635 Dobsonia Mammals of Papua New Guinea Mammals described in 1914 Bats of Oceania Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas Bats of New Guinea