The demonic tube-nosed fruit bat (''Nyctimene masalai'') is a species of

bat Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

in the family Pteropodidae. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

. 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 ...

specimen was collected in 1979 on New Ireland, in the

Bismarck Archipelago The Bismarck Archipelago (, ) is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about . History The first inhabitants of the archipela ...

. It was described as a new species in 1983. The range of the species may extend to other islands, however the extent of the range is not presently known.

Taxonomy and etymology

Based on its morphology, it was placed into the ''cephalotes''

species group In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

of its genus when it was described. Species groups are hypotheses of evolutionary relationships, so it is thought that the demonic tube-nosed fruit bat is most closely related to the other members of the species group: *

Pallas's tube-nosed bat Pallas's tube-nosed bat (''Nyctimene cephalotes''), also known as the Torresian tube-nosed bat or northern tube-nosed bat, is a species of megabat in the ''Nyctimene'' genus found in Indonesia. Its range may extend to New Guinea, but sightings m ...

, (''N. cephalotes'') *

Island tube-nosed fruit bat The island tube-nosed fruit bat (''Nyctimene major'') is a species of bat in the family Pteropodidae. It is found in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of De ...

, (''N. major'') *

Eastern tube-nosed bat The eastern or Queensland tube-nosed bat (''Nyctimene robinsoni'') is a megabat in the family Pteropodidae that lives in north-eastern Australia. ''N. robinsoni'' is one of the few species of megabat that roosts solitarily. They get their common ...

, (''N. robinsoni'') * Nendo tube-nosed fruit bat, (''N. santacrucis'') * Umboi tube-nosed fruit bat, (''N. vizcaccia'') More recently, others have placed it in the ''albiventer'' species group. Other members of the ''albiventer'' group included in this study were: *

Common tube-nosed fruit bat The common tube-nosed fruit bat (''Nyctimene albiventer'') is a species of megabat in the family Pteropodidae. It is found at islands north of Australia, and in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and the Solomon Islands. Taxonomy Th ...

, (''N. albiventer'') *

, (''N. major'') * Umboi tube-nosed fruit bat, (''N. vizcaccia'') * Dragon tube-nosed fruit bat, (''N. draconilla'') * Malaita tube-nosed fruit bat, (''N. malaitensis'') The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

comes from the Tolai word " masalai", which Smith and Hood translate as "forest demon or devil". Some sources place the demonic tube-nosed fruit bat as

synonymous 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 ...

with the

common tube-nosed fruit bat The common tube-nosed fruit bat (''Nyctimene albiventer'') is a species of megabat in the family Pteropodidae. It is found at islands north of Australia, and in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and the Solomon Islands. Taxonomy Th ...

, ''Nyctimene albiventer''.

Description

Bats of the '' Nyctimene'' genus are distinguished by their elongated, tubular nostrils. Individual bats are long. They weigh . The forearm is long. The back is mottled reddish-brown, with a thin, black stripe running from the back of the head to the base of the tail. Hairs on the dorsal side of the body are long, at long. The ventral side is grayish-white with a yellowish-brown tint. The flight membranes are dark brown. The wings have pale yellowish-brown spots, while the ears have white spots. The forearm also has large white splotches. The nostrils are whitish. Its

snout A snout is the protruding portion of an animal's face, consisting of its nose, mouth, and jaw. In many animals, the structure is called a muzzle, Rostrum (anatomy), rostrum, beak or proboscis. The wet furless surface around the nostrils of the n ...

is short and narrow and its

dental formula Dentition pertains to the development of teeth and their arrangement in the mouth. In particular, it is the characteristic arrangement, kind, and number of teeth in a given species at a given age. That is, the number, type, and morpho-physiology ...

is , for a total of 24 teeth.

Biology

Its diet consists of fruit.

Range and status

So far, it is only known from New Ireland, in the

, which is part of

. It is possible that its range includes other islands in the Bismarck Archipelago, though this is currently unconfirmed. Members of this species identified so far have been found at above sea level. It is currently evaluated as

data deficient A data deficient (DD) species is one which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as offering insufficient information for a proper assessment of conservation status to be made. This does not necessaril ...

by the

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 ...

. Previously in 1996, the IUCN had assessed this species as vulnerable. There has been little research regarding this species, and its population trend and geographic range are unknown. It is unknown if there are any threats to this species.

Taxonomy and etymology

Description

Biology

Range and status

References

Further reading