The Guadalcanal monkey-faced bat or Guadalcanal flying monkey (''Pteralopex atrata'') is a

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 ...

endemic to

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

. It is listed as an endangered species. In 2013,

Bat Conservation International Bat Conservation International (BCI) is an international nongovernmental organization working to conserve bats and their habitats through conservation, education, and research efforts. BCI was founded in 1982 by bat biologist Merlin Tuttle, who ...

listed this species as one of the 35 species of its worldwide priority list of conservation.

Taxonomy and etymology

It was the first species of its genus, the monkey-faced bats, to be described. It was described 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 ...

in 1888, based on a specimen that had been collected by British naturalist

Charles Morris Woodford Charles Morris Woodford (30 October 1852 – 4 October 1927) was a British naturalist and government minister active in the Solomon Islands. He became the first Resident Commissioner of the Solomon Islands Protectorate, serving from 1896 (three ...

. Woodford collected 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 ...

in Aola Bay of

Guadalcanal Island Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the sec ...

, which is a part of the

. While they were both initially described as distinct species, the Guadalcanal monkey-faced bat was considered

synonymous A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

with the

Bougainville monkey-faced bat The Bougainville monkey-faced bat or Bougainville flying monkey (''Pteralopex anceps'') is a megabat endemic to Bougainville Island of Papua New Guinea and Choiseul Island of the Solomon Islands in Melanesia.Bowen-Jones, E., Abrutat, D., Markham, ...

from 1954–1978. At present, they are again both considered full species. Its

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 ...

''atrata'' is derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

word atratus, meaning "clothed in black". In his initial description of the species, Thomas noted that its fur was almost uniformly black.

Description

It weighs . It has thick and fluffy fur that almost entirely conceals their ears. Ears are small, round, and sparsely furred. Ears are long and wide. Like all members of its genus, its

iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants *Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional enti ...

is red. Its color is mostly black, though its wings are occasionally mottled white., Individual hairs on its back are long. Its wings attach at the spine, unlike many species of bats where wing attachment is more lateral. It has very large upper

incisor Incisors (from Latin ''incidere'', "to cut") are the front teeth present in most mammals. They are located in the premaxilla above and on the mandible below. Humans have a total of eight (two on each side, top and bottom). Opossums have 18, whe ...

s and thick upper

canines Canine may refer to: Zoology and anatomy * a dog-like Canid animal in the subfamily Caninae ** ''Canis'', a genus including dogs, wolves, coyotes, and jackals ** Dog, the domestic dog * Canine tooth, in mammalian oral anatomy People with the surn ...

. Uniquely, its upper canine is double-cusped. It lacks a tail. Its forearm is approximately . Its hind foot is long, and its

calcar The calcar, also known as the calcaneum, is the name given to a spur of cartilage arising from inner side of ankle and running along part of outer interfemoral membrane in bats, as well as to a similar spur on the legs of some arthropods. The cal ...

is long. From nose to tail, it is . It has an unusually high

sagittal crest A sagittal crest is a ridge of bone running lengthwise along the midline of the top of the skull (at the sagittal suture) of many mammalian and reptilian skulls, among others. The presence of this ridge of bone indicates that there are exceptiona ...

. Its

dental formula Dentition pertains to the development of teeth and their arrangement in the mouth. In particular, it is the characteristic arrangement, kind, and number of teeth in a given species at a given age. That is, the number, type, and morpho-physiolo ...

is , for a total of 34 teeth.

Biology

It is infrequently encountered, and thus little is known about its biology. It was once observed eating unripe

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree ''Mangifera indica''. It is believed to have originated in the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South a ...

s. During the day, it likely roosts in hollow trees. It is a known

host A host is a person responsible for guests at an event or for providing hospitality during it. Host may also refer to: Places * Host, Pennsylvania, a village in Berks County People *Jim Host (born 1937), American businessman * Michel Host ...

bat flies Bat flies are members of the insect order Diptera, the true flies, which are external parasites of bats. Two families of flies are exclusively bat flies: Nycteribiidae and Streblidae. Bat flies have a cosmopolitan distribution, meaning that they ar ...

, which are

ectoparasite Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...

s. Specifically, the bat fly species ''Cyclopodia macracantha macracantha'' has been found on the Guadalcanal monkey-faced bat.

Range and habitat

It was initially discovered on

, and has also been reported on

New Georgia Island New Georgia, with an area of , is the largest of the islands in Western Province, Solomon Islands, and the 200th-largest island in the world. Geography New Georgia island is located in the New Georgia Group, an archipelago including most of ...

. It was once reported on

Santa Isabel Island Santa Isabel Island (also known as Isabel, Ysabel and Mahaga) is the longest in Solomon Islands, the third largest in terms of surface area, and the largest in the group of islands in Isabel Province. Location and geographic data Choiseul lies t ...

in 1931, but this was actually a

greater monkey-faced bat The greater monkey-faced bat or greater flying monkey (''Pteralopex flanneryi'') is a megabat endemic to Solomon Islands, Bougainville, in Papua New Guinea, and nearby small islands. It is listed as a critically endangered species and the popul ...

that had been misidentified. It has been documented from above sea level, but it likely occurs up to elevations of . Most individuals, however, have been collected at or near sea level. It prefers lowland forests. It is probably dependent upon

old-growth forest An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...

s for habitat.

Conservation

It is currently evaluated as

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

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 ...

. It is threatened by hunting 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 ...

. Logging is also a threat to this species, as it likely roosts in hollow trees during the day. It has consistently been evaluated as endangered since it was first assessed in 1994, with the exception of 1996–2008 when it was evaluated as critically endangered. The only record of its occurrence on New Georgia Island is a single skull discovered in 1975. Despite extensive surveys, no Guadalcanal monkey-faced bats have been encountered on New Georgia Island since then, and it is feared

extirpated Local extinction, also known as extirpation, refers to a species (or other taxon) of plant or animal that ceases to exist in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinct ...

from the island. It was last observed on Guadalcanal Island in September 2015.

References

External links

An image of a juvenile Guadalcanal monkey-faced bat
{{Taxonbar, from=Q720567 Pteralopex Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas Bats of Oceania Endemic fauna of the Solomon Islands Mammals of the Solomon Islands Endangered fauna of Oceania Bats as food Mammals described in 1888