Part 16

The number of upper incisors is highly variable in the six specimens of M. aurantius that I have examined. In two specimens an extra tooth has erupted just anterior to I2 and there is a total of six upper incisors. In two other specimens an extra tooth has erupted in front of I2 on one side but not the other. I could find no trace of an extra tooth in the remaining two specimens.

Practically nothing is known about the natural history of M. aurantius, or, indeed, that of either of the other two species of this genus. One field collector (Temple, in litt.) for the Bishop Museum reported that he obtained both M. aurantius and M. woodfordi in the same mist net in one night. The holotype, an adult female, was lactating when obtained in October.

=Melonycteris woodfordi= (Thomas)

1887. Nesonycteris woodfordi Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 5, 14:147, February, type from Shortland Island; 1887, Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, p. 324, March 15; 1888, Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, p. 476, December 4; 1898, Trouessart, Catalogus Mammalium ..., 1:90; 1899, Matschie, Die Megachiroptera ... naturkunde, p. 91; 1904, Trouessart, Catalogus Mammalium .., Suppl., p. 66; 1907, Miller, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., 57:74, June 29; 1912, Andersen, Catalogue of the Chiroptera ... British Museum, 1:792, from Alu, Shortland, Fauro, and Guadalcanal; 1931, Sanborn, Publ. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Zool. Ser., 18:23, February 12, from Russell Island (Pavuvo); 1954, Laurie and Hill, List of land mammals of New Guinea, Celebes and adjacent islands, p. 45, June 30.

1953. Melonycteris woodfordi, Pohle, Z. Säugetierk., 17:130, October 27, from Bougainville Island; 1966, Phillips, Jour. Mamm., 47:23, March 12, from Choiseul.

Specimens examined (three males and one female; in alcohol).--Choiseul, in April, 23413-14, 23434, 23275.

Measurements.--Average and extreme measurements of three males and one female are as follows: Length of head and body, 86.1 (83.1-91.0); hind foot, 19.6 (17.2-22.2); ear, 11.3 (10.8-11.7); length of forearm, 54.4 (52.1-57.7).

Remarks.--Specimens of Melonycteris woodfordi from Choiseul constitute a new locality of occurrence for the species. Apparently M. woodfordi occurs throughout the Solomons (see Fig. 11).

Thomas (1887a:147) named Nesonycteris woodfordi in a preliminary report that appeared before the publication of the more detailed description of the genus and species (1887b:323-324). In the second paper he stated that the anterior projections of the premaxillary bones are separated distinctly in both Nesonycteris and Melonycteris. According to Thomas (1887b:323), it was by some "accident" that Dobson (1878:4) reported the anterior projections of the premaxillary bones in Melonycteris melanops to be united. Writing at a later date, Andersen (1912:785) reported that in Melonycteris melanops the premaxillary bones have "simple contact with each other." Furthermore, in Andersen's (1912:791) illustration of M. woodfordi the premaxillary bones are in contact anteriorly. In specimens of woodfordi and melanops examined by me, the premaxillary bones are in contact. In M. aurantius the premaxillary bones are not in contact, and it differs from woodfordi in several other respects.

In M. woodfordi, as in other macroglossine bats, there is variability in dentition. One specimen examined has a total of three upper incisors, and another had an extra peglike tooth just anterior to I1.

Subfamily Nyctimeninae

=Nyctimene= Borkhausen

1797. Nyctimene Borkhausen, Deutsche fauna ..., 1:86.

1810. Cephalotes É. Geoffroy, Ann. du Mus. d'Hist. Nat., 15:104.

1811. Harpyia Illiger, Prodr. Syst. Mamm. et Avium, p. 118.

1837. Gelasinus Temminck, Monographe de Mammalia ..., 2:100.

Tube-nosed bats of the genus Nyctimene occur from Celebes on the west to the Santa Cruz Islands on the east. Heretofore, two species (N. albiventer and N. major), each with an endemic subspecies, were known from the Solomon Islands. Both species occur also in New Guinea and on many adjacent islands. A new species of Nyctimene, apparently endemic to the Solomons, and a new subspecies of N. albiventer are named beyond.

Nyctimene is related closely to Cynopterus and the "Cynopterus group" of Andersen (1912:691). Because Nyctimene is a highly specialized bat, Miller (1907:75) placed it in a subfamily separate from that of Cynopterus and its allies.

Andersen (1912:696, 697) placed the species of Nyctimene previously known from the Solomons in two groups, the "papuanus" group and the "cephalotes" group, on the basis of difference in length of forearm and length of maxillary tooth-row. Because of its short forearm (about 58), N. albiventer is in the papuanus group; and N. major, because of its long forearm (about 74), is in the cephalotes group.

Key to Species of Nyctimene in the Solomons

1. Forearm longer than 70; males grayish-brown, females pale gray, =N. major scitulus=, p. 825

1'. Forearm shorter than 70; males dark brown, females pale brown, 2

2(1'). Forearm about 65, =N. malaitensis=, p. 822

2'. Forearm less than 61, =N. albiventer=, p. 818

=Nyctimene albiventer=

This species occurs throughout New Guinea and on many adjacent islands, including the Bismarck Archipelago and the Admiralty and Solomon islands. The species varies geographically and five subspecies are recognized. The two subspecies in the Solomons resemble N. albiventer papuanus, the subspecies that ranges from eastern New Guinea to New Britain. N. albiventer bougainville occurs in the western chain of islands of the Solomons, whereas another subspecies, named as new beyond, occurs in the eastern chain of islands (see Fig. 12).

Sexual dichromatism is striking. As Andersen (1912:690) previously reported, females generally are paler, more brownish than males, which are dark and have a better defined black dorsal stripe.

=Nyctimene albiventer bougainville= Troughton