The moss-forest blossom bat (''Syconycteris hobbit'') is a 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 found in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

. Its natural habitat is

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Geographical z ...

and

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

dry forests. Originally discovered in New Guinea 1911, the moss-forest blossom bat was later discovered in Habema, Tembagapura-Timika, and Lian Jaya, and Indonesia in 1982 by Ziegler. Ziegler described Hobbit on the basis of an adult and subadult gathered from Marobe Province, Papua New Guinea 7'31'' S 146'40' E at an elevation of 2400 m above sea level. In 1990 another was found from high altitude of Forfes near the summit of Mt Kaindi, Marobe Province. The Moss-forest blossom bat is characterized by dark greyish-brown fur dorsally, darkest on its head and nape, with a paler anterior back laterally and a much paler posterior. Irian Jayan bats have dense velvet fur all over their dorsum, but less on venter. Shortest on the front and sides of the head. They possess rusty brown forearms and flanks down to the hind legs. In many cases, the rump is fainty, light brown, with a whitish suffusion on the medio-ventral parts of the body. Tembagapura-Timika bats are lighter than their relatives in the Habema Highlands. Tambagapura Timika bats average . The average weight of Irian Jayan is considerably heavier than the New Guinea variant, where adults average . Irian Jaya bats have slightly larger skulls and teeth.

References

Syconycteris Bats of Oceania Endemic fauna of Papua New Guinea Mammals of Papua New Guinea Mammals of Western New Guinea Mammals described in 1982 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Bats of New Guinea Organisms named after Tolkien and his works {{fruit-bat-stub