| Pteralopex | |
|---|---|
| |
| Guadalcanal monkey-faced bat (Pteralopex atrata) | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Placentalia |
| Order: | Chiroptera |
| Family: | Pteropodidae |
| Subfamily: | Pteropodinae |
| Genus: | Pteralopex Thomas, 1888 |
| Type species | |
| Pteralopex atrata Thomas, 1888
| |
| Species | |
|
See text | |
Pteralopex is a genus of large megabats in the family Pteropodidae.1 Species in this genus are commonly known as "monkey-faced bats". They are restricted to Solomon Islands rain forests in Melanesia, and all species are seriously threatened, being rated as either endangered or critically endangered by IUCN.2 Two species, P. taki and P. flanneryi, have been described since 2000.
Species
This genus includes five identified species:
- Bougainville monkey-faced bat, Pteralopex anceps
- Guadalcanal monkey-faced bat, Pteralopex atrata
- Greater monkey-faced bat, Pteralopex flanneryi3
- Montane monkey-faced bat, Pteralopex pulchra
- New Georgian monkey-faced bat, Pteralopex taki4
The Fijian monkey-faced bat, formerly placed in this genus, has recently been transferred to the monotypic Mirimiri.3
References
References
- Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M., eds. (2005). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
- IUCN (2008). 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Accessed 2008-12-17.
- Helgen, K. M. (2005). Systematics of the Pacific monkey-faced bats (Chiroptera : Pteropodidae), with a new species of Pteraloplex and a new Fijian genus. Systematics and Biodiversity, 3(4):433-453.
- Parnaby, H. E. (2002). A taxonomic review of the genus Pteralopex (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae), the Monkey-faced Bats of the South-western Pacific. Australian Mammalogy. 23: 145-162.