Sulawesi stripe-faced fruit bat

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Sulawesi stripe-faced fruit bat
Styloctenium wallacei AB Meyer.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Chiroptera
Family: Pteropodidae
Genus: Styloctenium
Species:
S. wallacei
Binomial name
Styloctenium wallacei
(Gray, 1866)
Sulawesi Stripe-faced Fruit Bat area.png
Sulawesi stripe-faced fruit bat range
Synonyms

Pteropus wallaceiGray, 1866

The Wallace's or Sulawesi stripe-faced fruit bat (Styloctenium wallacei) is a species of megabat in the family Pteropodidae. It is endemic to Sulawesi and the nearby Togian Islands of Indonesia. Cave paintings resembling these bats have been found in Australia, where bats of this kind are not otherwise known.

Contents

Taxonomy

The Sulawesi stripe-faced fruit bat was first described in 1866 by the British zoologist John Edward Gray, Keeper of Zoology at the British Museum. He gave it the name Pteropus wallacei, naming it in honour of the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace who had collected the first specimen in Sulawesi in Indonesia. [2] Although Wallace was sure that the specimen he had found was a new species, his announcement was met with scepticism, and others thought the bat was a juvenile masked flying fox (Pteropus personatus). [3] In 1899, the bat was moved to the new genus Styloctenium by the German zoologist Paul Matschie. This genus was believed to be monotypic, but in 2007, a single bat found on the island of Mindoro in the Philippines was described by Jacob Esselstyn and added to the genus as Styloctenium mindorensis, the Mindoro stripe-faced fruit bat. [4]

Description

The Sulawesi stripe-faced fruit bat is a typical fruit bat with long, naked ears, forearms modified for flight and short hind legs with claws. There are white facial markings, each with a dark brown margin; a streak on the rostrum, a spot on the cheek, another at the angle of the jaw, a patch over the eye, a band across the upper lip and a patch on the chin. [5] The only other known species of the genus Styloctenium, S. mindorensis, is differentiated by its multicusped lower and upper canine teeth. [6]

Distribution and habitat

The Sulawesi stripe-faced fruit bat is native to the island of Sulawesi in the Greater Sunda Islands and the Togian Islands in the Gulf of Tomini . It inhabits primary forest at altitudes of up to about 1,100 m (3,600 ft) but sometimes occurs in secondary forest where the understorey has been cleared to make way for cultivation of coffee or cocoa. When it is occasionally seen in more open areas, it is probably moving between fragmented patches of forest. [1] Cave paintings of megabats, found near Kimberley in Australia, are unlike any bats living on that continent today; they more resemble the Sulawesi stripe-faced fruit bat than any other species. A fossilised wasp nest overlaying cave paintings of a similar type has been tested as being 17,500 years old, making the rock art older and maybe dating to the last ice age, some twenty to twenty-five thousand years ago. [7]

Status

The Sulawesi stripe-faced fruit bat is common in some areas of the island but rare in others. Much of the primary forest on Sulawesi has been cleared for agriculture, and the population of the bat is thought to be declining, and it may be hunted in some areas. For these reasons, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being "near threatened". It is present in the Lore Lindu National Park in Central Sulawesi. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Megabat</span> Family of fruit bats

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 superfamily Pteropodoidea, which is one of two superfamilies in the suborder Yinpterochiroptera. Internal divisions of Pteropodidae have varied since subfamilies were first proposed in 1917. From three subfamilies in the 1917 classification, six are now recognized, along with various tribes. As of 2018, 197 species of megabat had been described.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giant golden-crowned flying fox</span> Large bat species

The giant golden-crowned flying fox, also known as the golden-capped fruit bat, is a species of megabat endemic to the Philippines. Since its description in 1831, three subspecies of the giant golden-crowned flying fox have been recognized, one of which is extinct. The extinct subspecies was formerly recognized as a full species, the Panay golden-crowned flying fox. Formerly, this species was placed in the genus Pteropus; while it is no longer within the genus, it has many physical similarities to Pteropus megabats. It is one of the largest bat species in the world, weighing up to 1.4 kg (3.1 lb)—only the Indian and great flying fox can weigh more. It has the longest documented forearm length of any bat species at 21 cm (8.3 in).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black flying fox</span> Species of mammal

The black flying fox or black fruit bat is a bat in the family Pteropodidae. It is among the largest bats in the world, but is considerably smaller than the largest species in its genus, Pteropus. The black flying fox is native to Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Indonesia. It is not a threatened species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Livingstone's fruit bat</span> Species of bat

Livingstone's fruit bat, also called the Comoro flying fox, is a megabat in the genus Pteropus. It is an Old World fruit bat found only in the Anjouan and Mohéli islands in the Union of the Comoros in the western Indian Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mindanao pygmy fruit bat</span> Species of bat

The Mindanao pygmy fruit bat is a species of megabat in the family Pteropodidae. It is the only species within the genus Alionycteris. It is endemic to the Philippines. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests at high elevations that are either scarce or overtaken by tourist hotspots. As a result, this species may be seeking new elevated habitats likely in the southern region of the Philippines and along the islands of Sulawesi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harpy fruit bat</span> Species of bat

The harpy fruit bat is a species of megabat in the family Pteropodidae. It is endemic to the Philippines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lesser tube-nosed bat</span> Species of bat

The lesser tube-nosed bat is a species of megabat in the family Pteropodidae. It is native to two of the Maluku Islands in northern Indonesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashy-headed flying fox</span> Species of bat

The ashy-headed flying fox or North Moluccan flying fox is a species of bat in the family Pteropodidae. It is endemic to Indonesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black-eared flying fox</span> Species of bat

The black-eared flying fox, species Pteropus melanotus, is a bat of the family Pteropodidae (megabats). Also known as Blyth's flying fox, it is found on the Andaman Islands and Nicobar Islands (India), and in Sumatra (Indonesia). A population on Christmas Island, which is critically endangered, has been placed as a subspecies of this population. The conservation and taxonomic status of that population was later re-established as a distinct species, the Christmas Island fruit-bat Pteropus natalis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little golden-mantled flying fox</span> Species of bat

The little golden-mantled flying fox is a species of bat in the family Pteropodidae. It is found in Indonesia and the Philippines. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manado fruit bat</span> Species of bat

The Manado fruit bat is a species of megabat in the family Pteropodidae.

<i>Styloctenium</i> Genus of bats

Styloctenium is a genus of stripe-faced fruit bat in the Pteropodidae (megabat) family. It comprises the following species:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swift fruit bat</span> Species of bat

The swift fruit bat is a species of megabat in the family Pteropodidae.

The Mindoro stripe-faced fruit bat, nicknamed the "flying fox" for its foxlike face, is a species of large megabat that is endemic to the island of Mindoro. The Mindoro stripe-faced fruit bat ranked sixth in the top ten species of 2008, selected by the International Institute for Species Exploration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bougainville monkey-faced bat</span> Species of mammal

The Bougainville monkey-faced bat or Bougainville flying monkey is a megabat endemic to Bougainville Island of Papua New Guinea and Choiseul Island of the Solomon Islands in Melanesia. It inhabits mature forests in upland areas, within the Autonomous Region of Bougainville and Bougouriba Province.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pteropodinae</span> Subfamily of bats

The Pteropodinae are a subfamily of megabats. Taxa within this subfamily are:

<i>Desmalopex</i> Genus of bats

Desmalopex is a genus of megabats in the family Pteropodidae. It has historically been included in the genus Pteropus and occurs only in the Philippines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Halmahera naked-backed fruit bat</span> Species of bat

The Halmahera naked-backed fruit bat is a common and widespread species of megabat in the family Pteropodidae. It is endemic to Indonesia. The bat's non-Moluccan populations are apparently an undescribed separate sub-species.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Sheherazade. (2021). "Styloctenium wallacei". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2021: e.T21100A203829571. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-3.RLTS.T21100A203829571.en . Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  2. ↑ Beccalon, George (2008-01-12). "Plants and animals named after Wallace". Alfred Russel Wallace Website. Archived from the original on 2020-01-31. Retrieved 2015-11-11.
  3. ↑ Fearn, Eva (2012). State of the Wild 2010-2011: A Global Portrait. Island Press. p. 40. ISBN   978-1-61091-158-0.
  4. ↑ "Philippines finds new breed of flying fox". Reuters. 2007-09-16. Retrieved 2015-11-11.
  5. ↑ Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London (1832). Longman. 1866. pp. 66–67.
  6. ↑ Esselstyn, Jacob A. (2007). "A new species of stripe-faced fruit bat (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae: Styloctenium) from the Philippines". Journal of Mammalogy. 88 (4): 951–958. doi: 10.1644/06-MAMM-A-294R.1 .
  7. ↑ Ancient Australian Rock Art Depicts Unknown Bats – News Watch. Newswatch.nationalgeographic.com (2008-12-09). Retrieved on 2015-11-13.
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