The Suhaniah fruit bat (''Thoopterus suhaniahae'') is a species 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 ...

in the family Pteropodidae. It is native to Indonesia and was described in 2012.

Taxonomy

The Suhaniah fruit bat was described as a new species in 2012. 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 ...

had been collected in

Lore Lindu National Park Lore Lindu National Park is a protected area of forest on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, in the province of Central Sulawesi. The List of national parks of Indonesia, Indonesian national park is 2,180 km2 covering both lowland and mont ...

on the Indonesian island

Sulawesi Sulawesi ( ), also known as Celebes ( ), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the List of islands by area, world's 11th-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Min ...

in 2000 by I. Maryanto and M. Yani. Before its description, the genus '' Thoopterus'' was believed to be monotypic, consisting only of the

swift fruit bat The swift fruit bat (''Thoopterus nigrescens'') is a species of megabat in the family Pteropodidae. Taxonomy The swift fruit bat was initially described in 1870 by British zoologist John Edward Gray. He placed it in the genus '' Cynopterus'', wi ...

(''Thoopterus nigrescens''). Scientists subsequently discovered that there was regional variation in the swift fruit bat: individuals in northern Sulawesi were smaller than those in southwest Sulawesi. The southwest Sulawesi population was split from ''T. nigrescens'' due to larger body size, skull size, and jaw size, and given the scientific name ''Thoopterus suhaniahae''. The

eponym An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

for the species name ''suhaniahae'' is Suhaniah, the wife of Mohamad Yani.

Description

The Suhaniah fruit bat is

sexually dimorphic Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, di ...

, with males larger than females on average. Males have a head and body length of , compared to females at . Males have forearm lengths of , with female forearm lengths of .

Distribution

The Suhaniah fruit bat 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 ...

to Indonesia, where it is found on Sulawesi,

Wawonii Island Wawonii (formerly called Wowoni) is an island in the Banda Sea, Indonesia, off the south east coast of Sulawesi. Its area is 705.71 km2 and at the 2020 Census it had a population of 37,050; the official estimate as at mid 2022 was 38,383.Bada ...

, and the

Talaud Islands The Talaud Islands Regency () is a Regency (Indonesia), regency of North Sulawesi province, Indonesia. The Talaud Islands form an archipelago situated to the northeast of the Minahasa Peninsula, with a land area of 1,251.02 km2. It had a populati ...

. It is found at a range of elevations from above sea level. Its range includes lowland and montane forests.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3990765 Mammals described in 2012 Megabats Bats of Indonesia Endemic fauna of Indonesia