The Rennell flying fox (''Pteropus rennelli'') is a species of flying fox found in the

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 an endangered species risking extinction.

Taxonomy and etymology

It was described as a new species in 1929 by Australian mammalogist

Ellis Le Geyt Troughton Ellis Le Geyt Troughton (born in Sydney on 29 April 1893; died 30 November 1974) was an Australian zoologist and mammalogist. Biography Ellis Troughton began to exercise his interest in mammals at fourteen years of age, taking a role at the Au ...

. As the genus '' Pteropus'' is speciose, it is divided into closely related species groups. The Rennell flying fox is in the "''samoensis''" species group. Its species name "''rennelli''" comes from

Rennell Island Rennell Island, locally known as Mugaba, is the main island of two inhabited islands that make up the Rennell and Bellona Province in the nation state of Solomon Islands. Rennell Island has a land area of that is about long and wide. It is th ...

, which is part of the

. Rennell Island was where 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 ...

was collected, and remains the only known location of this species. In 1962, Hill published that he considered Rennell's flying fox as a subspecies of the

Solomons flying fox The Solomons flying fox (''Pteropus rayneri'') is a species of flying fox in the family Pteropodidae. It is endemic to the Solomon Islands archipelago The Solomon Islands (archipelago) is an island group in the western South Pacific Oce ...

, with a trinomen of ''Pteropus rayneri rennelli''.

Description

The forearm of the holotype was long. The fur of its back is uniformly brownish, with the fur of its neck and face lighter.

Biology

Females give birth to one offspring per litter, with the young called a "pup." Its lifespan is estimated at eight to nine years. It is nocturnal, roosting in sheltered places such as trees during the day. Individuals roost by themselves.

Range and habitat

It is only known from Rennell Island, which is part of the Solomon Islands.

Conservation

The

was the only known individual of these species until 1958, when two more were collected. It is currently listed as an

endangered species 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 inv ...

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 ...

; its 2017 assessment uplisted it from its 2008 status of vulnerable. A 2016 study stated that the Rennell's flying fox is one of the land mammals most threatened by

overhunting 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 ...

. Because the species has such a small range, it is susceptible to extinction via

natural disaster A natural disaster is "the negative impact following an actual occurrence of natural hazard in the event that it significantly harms a community". A natural disaster can cause loss of life or damage property, and typically leaves some econ ...

; a single

cyclone In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an anti ...

could conceivably extinct this species.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q591465 Pteropus Mammals of the Solomon Islands Rennell and Bellona Islands Mammals described in 1929