Pteropus ualanus Peters, 1883

Parnaby, Harry E., Ingleby, Sandy & Divljan, Anja, 2017, Type Specimens of Non-fossil Mammals in the Australian Museum, Sydney, Records of the Australian Museum 69 (5), pp. 277-420 : 389

Pteropus ualanus Peters, 1883

Sitzungsberichte der Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin, 1: 1. (16 January 1883).

Common name. Kosrae Flying-fox.

Current name. Pteropus ualanus Peters, 1883 ; following Simmons (2005), previously a subspecies of P. mariannus Desmarest, 1822 .

Syntype. B.4456 by subsequent determination. Female, study skin without skull, registered October 1884, received in exchange from Dr O. Finsch. Original label reads “ Dr O. Finsch, Pacific Exped. Pteropus ualanus Peters, Trisbraun , Kosrae ( Ualan )”. Original label states “nos 1” but collection date not given .

Condition. Study skin: hole in the left wing at the proximal end of forearm.

Type locality. Kosrae Island, also called Ualan, Kusaie or Knshai island, Federated States of Micronesia.

Comments. This specimen is a probably a syntype; if not, then it is a topotype identified by Peters but not part of his original series. Andersen (1912) looked at 10 “cotypes”, but Peters original description does not appear to indicate the total number of specimens examined. Turni & Kock (2008) list 13 syntypes. The original label of AM B.4456 has a note in German that the skull was extracted from the skin and lost. The original label indicates male, but the skin is clearly that of a female. The B Register entry of October 1884 does not list any accompanying correspondence for this specimen, and it is possible that Finsch delivered it in person, given that he was in Sydney in 1884 and noted as a visitor to the 27 August 1884 meeting of the Linnean Society of NSW ( Anonymous, 1884). A number of biological specimens were subsequently registered in the B Register in November 1884 as an exchange from “(Dr Peters) via Dr O. Finsch”.