Pteropus mariannus Desmarest 1822

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Chiroptera - Family Pteropodidae, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 1, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 313-350 : 340

Pteropus mariannus Desmarest 1822

Pteropus mariannus Desmarest 1822 , Mammalogie, in: Encycl. Meth., 2 (Suppl.): 547.

Type Locality: West Pacific, Mariana Isls, Guam ( USA).

Vernacular Names: Marianas Flying Fox.

Synonyms: Pteropus vanikorensis Quoy and Gaimard 1830 .

Subspecies: :

Subspecies Pteropus mariannus subsp. mariannus Desmarest 1822

Subspecies Pteropus mariannus subsp. paganensis Yamashima 1932

Subspecies Pteropus mariannus subsp. ulthiensis Yamashima 1932

Distribution: S Mariana Isls through Guam to Ulithi Isl.

Conservation: CITES – Appendix I; U.S. ESA – Endangered (but proposed reclassification to Threatened) in Guam as P. m. mariannus ; Proposed Threatened in the Aguijan, Tinian, Saipan populations. IUCN / SSC Action Plan (1992) – Endangered: Limited Distribution. IUCN 2003 – Endangered.

Discussion: mariannus species group. Probably includes vanikorensis , see Troughton (1930). If vanikorensis is in fact from the Mariana Isls (rather than Vanikoro Isl in the Santa Cruz Isls), it would likely be a synonym of either the nominate subspecies or paganensis. Systematics of this complex is somewhat confused; some authors have included pelewensis , ualanus , and yapensis as subspecies of mariannus (e.g., Koopman, 1994), while others have treated them as distinct species without comment (e.g., Corbet and Hill, 1980). I follow Flannery (1995 b) in provisionally recognizing pelewensis , ualanus , and yapensis as distinct species pending further study.