''Pteralopex'' is a
genus of large
megabats in the family
Pteropodidae.
Species in this genus are commonly known as "monkey-faced bats". They are restricted to
Solomon Islands rain forests
The Solomon Islands rain forests are a terrestrial ecoregion covering most of the Solomon Islands archipelago.
Geography
Included are the islands of Bougainville and Buka, which are part of Papua New Guinea and most of the islands within th ...
in
Melanesia, and all species are seriously
threatened, being rated as either
endangered or
critically endangered by
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 ...
.
[IUCN (2008)]
2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Accessed 2008-12-17. Two species, ''P. taki'' and ''P. flanneryi'', have been
described since 2000.
Species
The
Fijian monkey-faced bat, formerly placed in this genus, has recently been transferred to the
monotypic ''
Mirimiri''.
[Helgen, K. M. (2005). ''Systematics of the Pacific monkey-faced bats (Chiroptera : Pteropodidae), with a new species of Pteraloplex and a new Fijian genus.'' Systematics and Biodiversity, 3(4):433-453.]
*
Bougainville monkey-faced bat, ''Pteralopex anceps''
*
Guadalcanal monkey-faced bat, ''Pteralopex atrata''
*
Greater monkey-faced bat, ''Pteralopex flanneryi''
[
* Montane monkey-faced bat, ''Pteralopex pulchra''
* New Georgian monkey-faced bat, ''Pteralopex taki''][Parnaby, H. E. (2002). ''A taxonomic review of the genus Pteralopex (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae), the Monkey-faced Bats of the South-western Pacific.'' Australian Mammalogy. 23: 145-162.]
References
Bat genera
Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas
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