Part 10

1934. Pteropus goweri Tate, Amer. Mus. Novit., 718:1, May 4, type from Gower (Ndai) Island.

1954. Pteropus admiralitatum goweri, Laurie and Hill, List of land mammals of New Guinea, Celebes and adjacent islands, p. 33, June 30.

Specimens examined.--None.

Remarks.--Pteropus admiralitatum goweri was described from six specimens collected in 1930 by the Whitney South Sea Expedition (Tate, 1934:1). This subspecies closely resembles the other two subspecies of P. admiralitatum (colonus and solomonis) found in the Solomon Islands. Color and length of forearm (see key on p. 793) seem to be the only reliable criteria for distinguishing between these subspecies. The longitude of Gower Island, 160° 34' E, was incorrectly listed in Laurie and Hill (1954:152) as 159° 34' E.

=Pteropus howensis= Troughton

1931. Pteropus howensis Troughton, Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales, 56:204, June 24, type from Lord Howe Islands (Ontong Java); 1950, Sanborn and Nicholson, Fieldiana:Zool., 31:329, August 31.

Specimens examined (one male, three females, and two sex unknown; two embryos in alcohol).--Liuniuwu, Lord Howe Islands (Ontong Java) in August, USNM 278703-6, USNM 279715-6.

Measurements.--Average and extreme measurements of one male and three females are as follows: Length of head and body, 185.2 (176-196); hind foot, 34.5 (33-36); ear, 21.5 (21-23); forearm not measured [broken in all specimens examined]. Cranial measurements of a male and a female are, respectively, as follows: Greatest length of skull, 55.3, 53.8; condylobasal length, 54.2, 52.8; palatal length, 26.7, 26.0; zygomatic breadth, 30.6, 29.9; breadth of braincase, 19.9, 19.2; breadth across first upper molars, 14.3, 14.3; length of maxillary tooth-row, 20.7, 19.6; length of mandibular tooth-row, 23.1, --.

Remarks.--Apparently Pteropus howensis is confined to Ontong Java (Lord Howe Islands) located northeastward of the main body of islands that constitute the Solomon Archipelago (see Fig. 5). According to A. J. Nicholson, who collected the specimens listed above, P. howensis is not abundant in Ontong Java. He related this circumstance to the fact that these small islands are nothing more than parts of a coral atoll used almost entirely for the production of coconuts (see Sanborn and Nicholson, 1950:329).

Specimens of Pteropus howensis deposited in the U. S. National Museum agree well in most ways with the original description of the species by Troughton (1931:204-205). Slight variation in color is evident; in two specimens, the mantle, just posterior to the ears, is Ochraceous-Buff.

The relationship of this species to other kinds of Pteropus known from Melanesia is not clear. Troughton (1931:204, 206) compared P. howensis with P. hypomelanus and P. admiralitatum and found that it resembled each of them. Tate (1934:2) noted that the skull of P. admiralitatum goweri was similar to that of P. howensis in structure. The latter species is, however, larger (length of forearm 122 according to Troughton, 1931:205) than any subspecies of P. admiralitatum (length of forearm 108-112). Also, the cheek-teeth of P. howensis that I have studied are relatively larger than those of either P. hypomelanus or P. admiralitatum. Furthermore, in P. howensis there is a small but distinct cusp located medio-posteriorly on P4 (most noticeable in young individuals) that is more reduced or undeveloped in specimens of the other two species. Cheek-teeth of P. howensis resemble those in a dull-colored specimen of P. tonganus from Fiji Island with which I compared the specimens listed above.

Weights and crown-rump lengths of the two embryos (in an advanced stage of development) examined were 20 and 29 grams and 43 and 51 mm. (apparently these are the specimens listed by Sanborn and Nicholson, 1950:329).

=Pteropus tonganus=

Pteropus tonganus has at least three subspecies, one of which has been recorded from the Solomons. The species ranges from a small island off the eastern coast of New Guinea, where there is an endemic subspecies, eastward to Tonga and the New Hebrides (Laurie and Hill, 1954:33-34). Felten (1964a) recently has reported on the species in the New Hebrides.

=Pteropus tonganus geddiei= MacGillivary

1860. Pteropus geddiei MacGillivary, Zoologist, 18:7134, September, type from Aneitum Island, New Hebrides; 1912, Andersen, Catalogue of the Chiroptera ... British Museum, 1:189; 1931, Sanborn, Publ. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Zool. Ser., 18:13, February 12, from Rennell Island in the Solomons.

1914. Pteropus tonganus geddiei, Revilliod, in Sarasin and Roux, Nova Caledonia (A), 1:341; 1954, Laurie and Hill, List of land mammals of New Guinea, Celebes and adjacent islands, p. 34, June 30.

Specimens examined.--None.

Remarks.--Pteropus tonganus geddiei, as far as is known, is the widest ranging subspecies of this genus. It is the only megachiropteran in the Solomon Islands having affinities with bats to the southeast (the New Hebrides, Santa Cruz Islands, Samoan Islands and Fiji Islands) rather than with those to the west (New Guinea). The subspecies P. tonganus geddiei, which ranges from the Solomons to the New Hebrides (about 500 miles straight-line distance), is said to be remarkably uniform throughout its range. Sanborn (1931:14) compared color and size in specimens from the Solomon Islands and the New Hebrides and found little variation. Another subspecies, P. t. bascilicus Thomas 1915, apparently closely related to geddiei, is known from Dampier [= Kar-kar] Island off the northeastern coast of New Guinea and therefore farther westward from the New Hebrides than are the Solomon Islands. Additional remarks on the distribution of this species are in the section on Zoogeography and Speciation.

=Pteropus rayneri=

Pteropus rayneri is endemic to the Solomon Islands. It is divisible into seven subspecies (see Fig. 6), which, excepting P. r. rennelli and P. r. cognatus, are strikingly colored--the mantle, back, and rump being of different colors. Differences in color and size provide characters differentiating the subspecies (see key, p. 793). Recorded lengths of forearms do not overlap between any two subspecies. P. r. grandis, northernmost in distribution, has the longest (about 170) forearm and P. r. cognatus, known from two of the southernmost islands, has the shortest (about 121).

Adult males of Pteropus rayneri have well-developed tufts of hair on each side of the neck where a gland is located (see Andersen, 1912:259). Apparently these glands are not present in females as none were found in specimens studied by me or those reported by Sanborn (1931:16). Evidently, these glands are associated with sexual maturity in males because neither Sanborn nor I found them in subadult males.

=Pteropus rayneri rayneri= Gray

1870. Pteropus rayneri (part), Gray, Catalogue of monkeys, lemurs and fruit-eating bats ... British Museum, p. 108, cotypes from Guadalcanal; 1878, Dobson, Catalogue of the Chiroptera ... British Museum, p. 33; 1879, Trouessart, Rev. Mag. Zool., 6:204; 1879, Trouessart, Ann. Sci. Nat. Zool, 8:16; 1887, Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, p. 322, March 15; 1888, Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, p. 472, December 4; 1898, Trouessart, Catalogus Mammalium ..., 1:78; 1912, Andersen, Catalogue of the Chiroptera ... British Museum, p. 254; 1931, Sanborn, Publ. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Zool. Ser., 18:15, February 12, from Guadalcanal and Malaita.

1954. Pteropus rayneri rayneri, Laurie and Hill, List of land mammals of New Guinea, Celebes and adjacent islands, p. 35, June 30.

1899. Pteropus (Spectrum) rayneri (part), Matschie, Die Megachiroptera ... naturkunde, p. 22; 1904, Trouessart, Catalogus Mammalium ..., Suppl., p. 51.

Specimens examined (four males and one female; one embryo in alcohol).--Guadalcanal in July and November, USNM 278700-02, USNM 278142, USNM 278714.

Measurements.--Measurements of three males and one female are, respectively, as follows: Length of head and body, --, 210, 214, 215; hind foot, --, 33, 39, 42; ear, --, 23, 23, 23; length of forearm, --, 138, 136, 134; greatest length of skull, 61.5, 59.2, 61.6, 61.2; condylobasal length, 61.4, 58.2, 60.3, 60.0; zygomatic breadth, 36.6, 35.3, 35.4, 36.5; breadth of braincase, 23.7, 22.5, 22.6, 24.1; breadth across first upper molars, --, 16.9, 16.7, 16.8; width of M1, 3.4, 3.5, 3.5, 3.5; length of maxillary tooth-row, 22.4, 22.1, 23.6, 23.2; length of mandibular tooth-row, 26.4, 25.5, 25.9, 25.6.