''Aethalops'' (Meaning: sooty bat) is a genus of

megabat Megabats constitute the Family (biology), family Pteropodidae of the Order (biology), order Chiroptera. They are also called fruit bats, Old World fruit bats, or—especially the genus, genera ''Acerodon'' and ''Pteropus''—Pteropus, flyin ...

s in the family Pteropodidae. It contains two species: * Borneo fruit bat, ''A. aequalis'' * Pygmy fruit bat, ''A. alecto''

Taxonomy

''Aethalops'' was described as a new genus in 1923 by British mammalogist

Oldfield Thomas Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas (21 February 1858 – 16 June 1929) was a British zoologist. Career Thomas worked at the Natural History Museum, London, Natural History Museum on mammals, describing about 2,000 new species and subspecies for ...

. Thomas named the genus ''Aethalodes'', though that name was already in use for a genus of beetle. Thomas then suggested the name ''Aethalops'' in a subsequent publication to remedy the problem. The type species for the genus was the pygmy fruit bat, ''Aethalops alecto'', which had been collected in

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

Lambertus Johannes Toxopeus Lambertus Johannes Toxopeus (1894 - April 21, 1951) was a Java-born, Dutch university teacher, entomologist, lepidopterist and botanical collector. In 1921-1922 he participated in the Royal Dutch Geographical and Treub Society expedition to the wes ...

. In 1938, the genus gained its second species, the Borneo fruit bat, ''A. aequalis''. This species was described by American zoologist

Glover Morrill Allen Glover Morrill Allen (February 8, 1879 – February 14, 1942) was an American zoologist. Born in Walpole, New Hampshire, the son of Reverend Nathaniel Glover Allen and Harriet Ann (Schouler) Allen, he studied at Harvard University. While still a ...

. The

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

was collected in 1937 in

Mount Kinabalu Mount Kinabalu ( Dusun: ''Gayo Ngaran'' or ''Nulu Nabalu'', ) is the highest mountain in Malaysia and Borneo. With a height of , it is the third-highest peak of an island on Earth, the 28th highest peak in Southeast Asia, and 20th most prom ...

, Malaysia, which is on the island of

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

. It was collected by J. Augustus Griswold, Jr. while on the Harvard Primate Expedition led by Harold Jefferson Coolidge Jr. The genus has been revised over the years, with some authors considering it

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

, or only containing one species. The Borneo fruit bat has, at times, been considered a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

of the pygmy fruit bat. As of 2019, the prevailing consensus is that the genus does, in fact, contain two species.

Description

The two ''Aethalops'' species are among the smallest

s. Individuals weigh approximately and have a head and body length of . Individuals lack an external tail. ''Aethalops'' species' fur color is black or dark gray, and they have small ears.

Conservation

As of 2016, both species have an

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

status of

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q581985 Megabats Bat genera Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas