Species Pteropus natalis Thomas, 1887

Museums

Regional Maps

• Pteropus natalis Thomas, O. 1887. Report on a zoological collection made by the officers of H.M.S. 'Flying Fish' at Christmas Island, Indian Ocean. I. Mammalia. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1887: 511-514 [511 pl. XLI].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) whereabouts unknown 22 ♀ adult and new born ♂, Christmas Island.

Generic Combinations

• Pteropus melanotus natalis (Thomas, 1887). —
  Chasen, F.N. 1940. A handlist of Malaysian mammals: A Systematic List of the Mammals of the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo and Java, including the adjacent small islands. Bulletin of the Raffles Museum 15: 1-209 [29]

Miscellaneous Literature Names

• Pteropus melanotus Blyth, 1863 [possible misidentification]. —
  Tideman, C.R. 1987. Notes on the flying-fox, Pteropus melanotus (Chiroptera: Pteropidae), on Christmas Island, Indian Ocean. Australian Mammalogy 10: 89-91 (P. natalis as a junior synonym of P. melanotus)
  Woinarski, J.C.Z., Burbidge, A.A. & Harrison, P.L. 2014. The Action Plan for Australian Mammals 2012. Melbourne, Victoria : CSIRO Publishing 1038 pp. [469]
  Jackson, S. & Groves, C. 2015. Taxonomy of Australian Mammals. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 520 pp. [240]

Introduction

Taxonomic status is still quite controversial, treated as synonym or subspecies of P. melanotus or as a valid species (see Jackson & Groves 2015 for a summary). Recent genetic analyses suggest that the Christmas Island flying fox maintains a degree of genetic diversity similar to other insular flying fox species (Phalen et al. 2017). Until further results provide more clarity, we follow Jackson & Groves (2015) and recognise it at species level.

Distribution

Other Regions

Christmas Island terrestrial & freshwater

General References

Andrews, C.W. 1900. Mammals. pp. 22-37 in Andrews, C.W. (ed.). A Monograph of Christmas Island (Indian Ocean): physical features and geology; with descriptions of the fauna and flora by numerous contributors. London : British Museum (Natural History) xiii 337 pp.

Flannery, T. 1990. The rats of Christmas past. Australian Natural History 23: 394-400

Hutson, A.M., Kingston, T., James, D., Lumsden, L., Molur, S. & Srinivasulu, C. 2008. Pteropus melanotus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2008: e.T18740A8525654 Downloaded on 03 May 2018. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/full/18740/0

Jackson, S. & Groves, C. 2015. Taxonomy of Australian Mammals. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 520 pp. [240]

James, D.J., Gale, G.J., Retallick, K. & Orchard, K. 2007. Christmas Island Flying-fox, Pteropus natalis Thomas 1887. An Assessment of Conservation Status and Threats. Parks Australia North Christmas Island Biodiversity Monitoring Programme. Report to Department of Finance & Administration and the Department of Environment & Water Resources. Canberra.

Koopman, K.F. 1993. Order Chiroptera. pp. 137-232 in Wilson, D.E. & Reeder, D-A. M. (eds). Mammal species of the world: A taxonomic and geographic reference. Second Edition. Washington : Smithsonian Institute 1206 pp.

Mickleburgh, S.P., Hutson, A.M. & Racey, P.A. (Compilers) 1992. Old World Fruit Bats: An action plan for their conservation. Gland : IUCN 252 pp.

Phalen, D.N., Hall, J., Ganesh, G., Hartigan, A., Smith, C., De Jong, C., Field, H. & Rose, K. 2017. Genetic diversity and phylogeny of the Christmas Island flying fox (Pteropus melanotus natalis). Journal of Mammalogy 98(2): 428–437

Simmons, N.B. 2005. Order Chiroptera. pp. 312-529 in Wilson, D.E. & Reeder, D.M. (Eds). Mammal species of the world. A taxonomic and geographic reference. Baltimore (USA) : The John Hopkins University Press Vol. 1 Third Edition, pp. i-xxxv, 1-743. [340-341] (as P. melanotus)

Tideman, C.R. 1987. Notes on the flying-fox, Pteropus melanotus (Chiroptera: Pteropidae), on Christmas Island, Indian Ocean. Australian Mammalogy 10: 89-91

Woinarski, J.C.Z., Burbidge, A.A. & Harrison, P.L. 2014. The Action Plan for Australian Mammals 2012. Melbourne, Victoria : CSIRO Publishing 1038 pp.

Woinarski, J.C.Z., Flakus, S., James, D.J., Tiernan, B., Dale, G.J. & Detto, T. 2014. An Island-Wide Monitoring Program Demonstrates Decline in Reporting Rate for the Christmas Island Flying-Fox Pteropus melanotus natalis. Acta Chiropterologica 16(1): 117–127

Common Name References

ABRS 2001. Census of Australian Vertebrates. Australian Biological Resources Study. (Christmas Island Flying Fox)

History of changes