Pteralopex taki Parnaby, 2002a

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 : 385

Pteralopex taki Parnaby, 2002a

Aust. Mammal. 23(2): 146, figs 1, 3, 6, tables 1–2. (30 April 2002).

Common name. New Georgia Monkey-faced Bat.

Current name. Pteralopex taki Parnaby, 2002a ; following Helgen (2005b).

Holotype. M.22320 by original designation. Female young adult, Field no. LA374, skull, body in alc., frozen tissue; captured by H. E. Parnaby and Ian Aujare on 25 June 1990; registered 14 August 1990.

Condition. Cranium and both dentaries complete.Alc. body complete, except part of left pectoral muscle removed.

Type locality. Abandoned village site [of Indidaka], on a ridge top at Mt Javi, (8°31'S 157°52'E), 5 km [northwest] of Patutiva Village , Marovo Lagoon, New Georgia Island, Western Province, Solomon Islands. Elevation c. 50 m.

Paratypes. (22, by original designation). Mt Javi (8°31'S 157°52'E), New Georgia Island, Solomon Islands, collected by Diana Fisher: M.26623 , male, study skin, skull, skinned body in alc., 11 February 1992 collected by D. Fisher and I. Aujare; M.26629 , female, study skin, skull, skinned body in alc., 2 May 1992; M.27627 , male, body in alc., 1 May 1992; M.27629 , male, body in alc. 30 April 1992; M.27630 , male, body in alc., 4 May 1992; M.27634 , male, skull in alc., body in alc., 4 May 1992; M.27638 , female, body in alc., 5 May 1992; M.27639 , female, skull in alc., body in alc., 5 May 1992. Tironusa (8°32'S 157°52'E), New Georgia, Solomon Islands, collected by D. Fisher: M.27631 , male, 3 April 1991 and M.27641 , female, 30 March 1992 both bodies in alc. Patutiva village (8°34'S 157°52'E), Vangunu Island, all collected by D. Fisher, from 23–26 April 1992: M.26624 , male, study skin, skull, skinned body in alc.; M.26625 , female, study skin, skull, skinned body in alc.; M.26626 , male, study skin, skull, skinned body in alc.; M.27628 , male, body in alc.; M.27632 , male, body in alc.; M.27633 , male, body in alc.; M.27636 , female, body in alc.; M.27640 , female, body in alc.; M.27642 , female, body in alc. Vivila village (8°41'S 157°52'E), Vangunu Island, Solomon Islands, collected by Diana Fisher 10–11 April 1992: M.27626 , female, skull in alc., body in alc.; M.27635 , female, subadult, body in alc.; M.27637 , female, body in alc .

Comments. Type series of 23 specimens. All paratypes were collected in 1992 during the ecological study of Fisher & Tasker (1997). They provided a description of the vegetation of the type locality, a long abandoned village site which they identify as Indidaka, and correctly indicated as being northwest of Patutiva village, not north as stated subsequently in the original description. Tissue samples of the holotypes of P. pulchra and P. taki were included in the electrophoretic analysis of Ingleby & Colgan (2003) who concluded that both taxa were closely related, with differences at only 4% of the 25 allozyme loci assessed.

Pteropus (Cheiropteruges) alboscapulatus Ramsay, 1877g

Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W (ser. 1) 2(1): 17. (July 1877).

Common name. Bismarck Blossom-bat.

Current name. Melonycteris melanops melanops Dobson, 1877 ; following Flannery (1993b) and Simmons (2005).

Lectotype. PA.1271, male adult, skin mount with skull in situ, registered c. 1878. The only data in the original Palmer entry for this specimen is “ Pteropus alboscapulatus New Ireland ” with no indication of type status. Flannery (1993b) provided a photograph of PA.1271, which he referred to as the holotype and in so doing, designated it as the lectotype (Article 74.6, the Code).

Condition. Skin mount faded, otherwise in good condition. Probably male, no penis visible but no nipples visible and darkly pigmented skin appears to be the remains of the scrotal sac.

Type locality. “Duke of York Island” (Ramsay), but not localized beyond “ Bismarck Archipelago ”, Papua New Guinea. The specimen was collected by the Rev. George Brown, who did not record locality data.

Paralectotype. PA.1270, appears to be male (no penis visible but no nipples either and many of the male skins lack a penis), skin mount, skull in situ, “Brown” is written on the skin label.

Comments. Ramsay did not indicate the number of specimens examined but referred only to a male specimen. It is likely that the specimen had not received a registration number at the time of publication. The AM annual report for 1877 ( Ramsay, 1878) lists “1 Chieropteruges [sic] alboscapulatus ” purchased from Rev. Brown but unfortunately the annual report for 1876 does not list individual bat species obtained from Brown. Three specimens, PA.1270–72 were originally entered as “alboscapulatus” from New Ireland in the Palmer Register and these specimens are likely to be part, if not all, of Ramsay’s original series. It is likely that Ramsay had examined all three specimens because a specimen list accompanying correspondence (AMArchivesAMS7 Letters Received, C:10.76.03) indicates that the three were received as skins from Brown in the same shipment in 1876. We have not yet located PA.1272, which could have been sent in exchange to another institution, or reregistered at a later time. Two specimens of this species (M.2249 and M.2417) were registered in 1912 and 1913 respectively from the “old collection”, with no data. The incomplete associated data does not include prior registration numbers and it is possible that they had not been registered previously.