Systematics of Megachiropteran Bats in the Solomon Islands

Part 1

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UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PUBLICATIONS

MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Vol. 16, No. 8, pp. 777-837, 17 figures in text

December 16, 1968

Systematics of Megachiropteran Bats in the Solomon Islands

CARLETON J. PHILLIPS

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS

LAWRENCE

1968

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PUBLICATIONS, MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Editorial Committee: E. Raymond Hall, Chairman; Frank B. Cross, Editor; Henry S. Fitch; J. Knox Jones, Jr.

Volume 16, No. 8, pp. 777-837, 17 figs.

Published December 16, 1968

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS

Lawrence, Kansas

PRINTED BY

ROBERT R. (BOB) SANDERS, STATE PRINTER

TOPEKA, KANSAS

1968

31-9490

Systematics of Megachiropteran Bats in the Solomon Islands

CARLETON J. PHILLIPS

CONTENTS

PAGE

INTRODUCTION 781

Part 2

GAZETTEER 783

METHODS AND MATERIALS 786

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 786

KEY TO GENERA 787

Rousettus amplexicaudatus hedigeri Pohle 788

Pteralopex atrata atrata Thomas 791

Pteralopex atrata anceps Andersen 792

Pteropus hypomelanus luteus Andersen 796

Pteropus admiralitatum solomonis Thomas 796

Pteropus admiralitatum colonus Andersen 796

Pteropus admiralitatum goweri Tate 797

Pteropus howensis Troughton 797

Pteropus tonganus geddiei MacGillivary 798

Pteropus rayneri rayneri Gray 800

Pteropus rayneri grandis Thomas 801

Pteropus rayneri rubianus Andersen 802

Pteropus rayneri lavellanus Andersen 802

Pteropus rayneri monoensis Lawrence 803

Pteropus rayneri cognatus Andersen 803

Pteropus rayneri rennelli Troughton 804

Pteropus woodfordi Thomas 804

Pteropus mahaganus Sanborn 806

Dobsonia inermis inermis Andersen 808

Dobsonia inermis new subspecies 809

Macroglossus lagochilus microtus Andersen 813

Melonycteris aurantius Phillips 816

Melonycteris woodfordi Thomas 816

Nyctimene albiventer bougainville Troughton 818

Part 3

Nyctimene albiventer new subspecies 819

Nyctimene new species 822

Nyctimene major scitulus Andersen 825

ZOOGEOGRAPHY AND SPECIATION 825

LITERATURE CITED 834

INTRODUCTION

The Solomon Islands constitute an archipelago east of the large island of New Guinea and more than a thousand miles off the northeastern coast of Australia. This archipelago, which is principally of volcanic origin although sedimentary layers of calcareous rocks occur on many islands (Lever, 1934; Belkin, 1962), consists of a double chain of islands having a northwest-southeast axis of more than 600 miles. The archipelago is more or less an extension of New Guinea and in fact is connected to it in stepping-stone fashion by New Britain, New Ireland, and numerous smaller islands (see Fig. 1).

Australia and New Guinea have many kinds of mammals but the only terrestrial mammals in the Solomon Islands are a species of the genus Phalanger (order Marsupialia), and several species of four genera of rodents, one genus of which probably was introduced by man. Additionally, several kinds of bats have reached and colonized the Solomon Islands.

In the past 100 years at least 43 species and subspecies of Chiroptera of 16 genera have been recorded from the Solomon Islands; of these 27 species and subspecies of seven genera are in the suborder Megachiroptera. At least one genus of Megachiroptera is endemic as are numerous species of other genera, and subspecies of still other species.

In 1963 and 1964, the Bernice P. Bishop Museum sent several collecting parties to the British Solomon Islands Protectorate and the Australian Trust Territory of New Guinea. In the Solomons, J. Linsley Gressitt, Philip Temple, Peter Shanahan, and Ray Straatmann visited many of the larger and more accessible islands and collected a wealth of zoological materials. I have had the opportunity to study and report on specimens of mammals, especially bats, collected by the persons named and deposited in the Bishop Museum. This report is the third in a series on bats from the Solomons (Phillips, 1966; 1967). Other specimens, mostly obtained in 1944 by personnel of United States military units, are stored in the United States National Museum and have been available for study. Aims of the following report are to (1) identify the megachiropteran bats to species and subspecies and (2) discuss distribution of these bats in the Solomon Islands.

In all, 27 kinds (subspecies and monotypic species) of the order Megachiroptera are known from the Solomon Islands. These pertain to three subfamilies of the one family Pteropodidae.

The 43 Solomon Islands, having a total land area of more than 15,300 square miles (see Belkin, 1962:42-43), are listed in the gazetteer (see also Figure 2). Politically, all of the Solomon Islands except Buka and Bougainville, which are included in New Guinea Trust Territory under mandate to Australia, are in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate.

The Solomons are within 300 to 700 miles of the equator and have a fairly constant tropical climate, except at high elevations. The temperature varies little; monthly mean temperature is between 81° and 83° F. and at sea level ranges from about 70° to 93° F. yearly (Belkin, 1962:42).

Southeast tradewinds are relatively constant from May to October and this period, in general, is a dry season except at higher elevations on windward coasts. From December to March prevailing winds are from the north and precipitation throughout the island group is especially heavy. Rainfall on the island of Tulagi averages about 120 inches per year (Bryan, Edwin H., 1941; MS, p. 2, at Pacific Sci. Information Center, Bishop Museum) and up to 300 inches have been recorded on the north coast of Guadalcanal (Belkin, 1962:42-43). Occasional dry periods occur even in the period of December to March.

Most islands of the Solomon Group support dense tropical rain forest. Much of it has been modified by man. Some clearings and scattered coconut plantations are found along coasts. On some of the larger islands (for example, Guadalcanal) coastal scrub (especially on leeward coasts) and extensive grassy areas are to be found. Additional notes on vegetation are in the gazetteer.

The 165,000 persons living on the Solomon Islands are mostly Melanesians but some are mixed Papuan, Malay, and Polynesian. These native peoples are notorious for their cannibalistic tendencies; the eating of human flesh usually was related to warfare, although malefactors and human sacrifices accounted for some of the cannibalism (Cranstone, 1961:29). Prior to the Second World War few Europeans visited the Solomons and several islands still remain beyond reach of modern-day technology. For example, Rennell and Bellona islands, south of the main part of the archipelago, are visited only rarely, and then only by a medical officer or the Resident Commissioner. According to Troughton (1936:341), the islanders in the interior of Bougainville as late as 1935, were prone to kill and feast upon strangers. In 1932, Lewis (1951:37) felt that the natives of Malaita Island were especially resistant to outside interference by Caucasians and reported that no "white man or foreigner" was safe on Malaita.

Troughton (1936), who listed Melanesian names for mammals, indicated that the native peoples distinguished between kinds of bats that closely resembled one another. Of these, the only bats that seem to be used as food belong to the genus Pteropus.

GAZETTEER

In the following list, currently-used names of islands are given; when available, older names and variant spellings are indicated in parentheses. For certain islands, especially those visited by field parties from the Bishop Museum or those frequently mentioned in previous literature on bats, some descriptive and ecological information also is provided.

Latitude and longitude of islands are from publication no. 881 of the Hydrographic Office of the United States Navy Department (Anonymous, 1944); names of islands were checked against a list by Brigham (1900); descriptive information mostly is from reports by Temple and Straatmann (1964, field notes, at the Department of Entomology, Bishop Museum).

ALU.--7° 07' S, 155° 54' E.

BANIKA.--9° 05' S, 155° 13' E.

BARA (Gera).--9° 31' S, 160° 31' E.

BELLONA (Bello).--11° 18' S, 159° 48' E.

BOUGAINVILLE (Mamamolimo).--6° 12' S, 155° 15' E. This is the largest island in the Solomon Group, being 127 miles long (northwest to southeast) and about 59 miles across at the widest place. The highest elevations are 9850 and 10171 feet, at the tops of active volcanoes. Ecologically, Bougainville is mostly dense rain forest, which is less dense on the summits of higher mountains.

BUKA.--5° 15' S, 154° 38' E.

CHOISEUL.--7° 04' S, 157° 01' E. This island, formed along a northwest-southeast line of low mountains (maximum elevation of 3500 feet), is about 90 miles long and 20 miles wide. Most collecting was at Malangona (Sasamunga on some maps) on the southwestern coast.

FAURO.--6° 55' S, 156° 07' E. This small island, about 14 miles long (north-south) and six miles wide (east-west), lies about 10 miles south and east of Bougainville. Fauro is formed around a volcanic cone having a maximum elevation of 1925 feet; it has considerable dense mangrove swamp along the west coast, and mature rain forest with little understory growth. Most collecting was at Toumoa, on one of two southern peninsulas.

Part 4

FLORIDA (Nggela).--9° 05' S, 160° 16' E. Florida, the main island in the Nggela Island Subgroup, is mountainous and except for some small grassy areas, supports dense rain forest. It is nearly 25 miles long (east-west) and nine miles wide (north-south), with a maximum elevation, at Mount Barnett, of about 1366 feet. Most collecting was at Haleta, on the southwestern coast. At this locality there were scattered mangrove swamps, rain forest, and gardens inland.

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