Abstract
Five flying-fox species (Pteropus scapulatus, P. alecto, P. conspicillatus, P. macrotis, and P. banakrisi) have been reported from islands in the Torres Strait, situated between northern Australia and southern Papua New Guinea. However, vouchered specimens demonstrate that Torres Strait records of the Large-eared flying-fox (Pteropus macrotis) actually reflect misidentifications of the Little Red flying-fox (P. scapulatus), and that the type series of Pteropus banakrisi Richards & Hall, 2002 (a newly-described species supposedly endemic to Moa Island) consists only of subadult individuals of the Black flying-fox (P. alecto). Only three flying-fox species are therefore known from the strait. These re-identifications underscore the importance of voucher specimens in biological investigations and have important implications for bat conservation in Australia. Pteropus macrotis is removed from the list of mammal species known from Australia, and banakrisi is placed in the synonymy of P. alecto.References
Andersen, K. (1912) Catalogue of the Chiroptera in the Collection of the British Museum, Volume I. Megachiroptera. Second edition. British Museum (Natural History), London, 854 pp.
Bergmans, W. (2001) Notes on distribution and taxonomy of Australasian bats. I. Pteropodinae and Nyctimeninae (Mammalia, Megachiroptera, Pteropodidae). Beaufortia, 51, 119–152.
Churchill, S. (1998) Australian Bats. Reed New Holland: Sydney, 230 pp.
Conder, P. (1994) With Wings on Their Fingers: an Intimate View of the Flying-Fox. Angus and Robertson: Sydney, 168 pp.
Flannery, T.F. (1995a) Mammals of New Guinea. Revised edition. Reed Books: Chatswood, New South Wales, 568 pp.
Flannery, T.F. (1995b) Mammals of the South-West Pacific and Moluccan Islands. Cornell University Press: Ithaca, New York, 464 pp.
Hall, L.S. (1995a) Large-eared flying-fox (Pteropus macrotis). In: Strahan, R. (Ed) Mammals of Australia, Smithsonian Institution Press: Washington, D.C., pp. 432–433.
Hall, L.S. (1995b) Black flying-fox (Pteropus alecto). In: Strahan, R. (Ed) Mammals of Australia, Smithsonian Institution Press: Washington, D.C., pp. 438–439.
Hall, L.S., & Richards, G.C. (1991) Flying-fox camps. Wildlife Australia, 28 (1), 19-22.
Hall, L.S., & Richards, G.C. (2000) Flying Foxes: Fruit and Blossum Bats of Australia. University of New South Wales Press: Sydney, 135 pp.
Krutzsch, P.H. (1962) Additional data on the os penis of Megachiroptera. Journal of Mammalogy, 43, 34-42.
Menkhorst, P. & Knight, F. (2001) A Field Guide to the Mammals of Australia. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 269 pp.
Richards, G.C. (1995) Torresian flying-fox (Pteropus sp.). In: Strahan, R. (Ed) Mammals of Australia, Smithsonian Institution Press: Washington, D.C., pp. 443–444.
Richards, G.C. & Hall, L.S. (2002) A new flying-fox of the genus Pteropus (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae) from Torres Strait, Australia. Australian Zoologist, 32, 69–75.
Schodde, R. & Calaby, J.H. (1972) The biogeography of the Australo-Papuan bird and mammal faunas in relation to Torres Strait. In: Walker, D. (Ed) Bridge and Barrier: the Natural and Cultural History of Torres Strait, Australian National University: Canberra, pp. 257–300.
Simmons, N.B. (2005) Order Chiroptera. In: Wilson, D.E. & Reeder, D.R. (Eds) Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, Third Edition, Smithsonian Institution Press: Washington, D.C., in press.
Strahan, R. (2002) Mammals of Australia. Revised edition. Smithsonian Institution Press: Washington, D.C.
Waithman, J. (1979) A report on a collection of mammals from southwest Papua, 1972-1973. Australian Zoologist, 20, 313–326.
Yokoyama, Y., Lambeck, K., de Deckker, P., Johnston, P. & Fifield, L.K. (2000) Timing of the Last Glacial Maximum from observed sea-level minima. Nature, 406, 713–716.