Pacific Flying Foxes (Mammalia: Chiroptera): Two New Species of Pteropus from Samoa, Probably Extinct

Abstract

Abstract Two new species of flying foxes (genus Pteropus) from the Samoan archipelago are described on the basis of modern museum specimens collected in the mid-19th century. A medium-sized species (P. allenorum, n. sp.) is introduced from the island of Upolu (Independent Samoa), based on a specimen collected in 1856 and deposited in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. It has not been collected again, and we regard it as almost certainly extinct. This species is smaller bodied and has much smaller teeth than both extant congeners recorded in the contemporary fauna of Samoa (Pteropus samoensis and P. tonganus). The closest relative of this new species may be Pteropus fundatus of northern Vanuatu. The disjunct historical distribution of these two small-toothed flying foxes (in Vanuatu and Samoa) suggests that similar species may have been more extensively distributed in the remote Pacific in the recent past. Another species, a very large flying fox with large teeth (P. coxi, n. sp.), is describ...