Keast's tube-nosed fruit bat

Keast's tube-nosed fruit bat – Nyctimene keasti – is a species of megabat in the family Pteropodidae found in Babar, Tanimbar, and the Kai Islands.

Keast's tube-nosed fruit bat
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Chiroptera
Family: Pteropodidae
Genus: Nyctimene
Species:
N. keasti
Binomial name
Nyctimene keasti
Kitchener, Packer, and Maryanto, 1993.[2]
Keast's tube-nosed fruit bat range

Description

A species of Nyctimene, the tube-nosed megachiropteran genus which feature prominent nostrils that splay out in opposite directions. The pelage of the species is gender dimorphic, males are notably darker and fawn coloured, females are predominantly buff-yellow lightened by a drab colour at the base of the hair.[3]

Taxonomy

The taxon was first described as a subspecies of Nyctimene albiventer in 1993.[2] A review of the systematics two years later elevated the status of the group to species and distinguished island populations previously described as Nyctimene cephalotes.[3]

The holotype was collected in 1992 in a mist net, close to sea level, at the edge of forest near a lake, on an island in the Maluku (province). The epithet of the species refers to an honorary assistant at the Western Australian Museum, Colin Keast, who assisted in the preparation of the specimen's skulls.[2]

The relationship to a widespread species, Nyctimene albifenta, is uncertain.[1]

References
  1. Helgen, K.; Hutson, A.M. (2008). "Nyctimene keasti". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2008: e.T136441A4292200. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T136441A4292200.en.
  2. Kitrchener, D.J.; Packer, W.C.; Maryandto, I. (1993). "Taxonomic status of Nyctimene (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae) from the Banda, Kai and Aru Islands, Maluku, Indonesia–implications for biogeography". Records of the Western Australian Museum. 16 (3): 399–417.
  3. Kitchener, D.J.; Packer, W.C; Suyanto, A. (1995). "Systematic review of Nyctimene cephalotes and N. albiventer (Chiroptera : Pteropodidae) in the Maluku and Sulawesi regions, Indonesia". Records of the Western Australian Museum. 17: 125–142.
  • D.E. Wilson & D.M. Reeder, 2005: Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. Third Edition. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore


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