Nyctimene (genus) explained

Nyctimene is a genus of bats in the Pteropodidae family. Commonly known as tube-nosed fruit bats or yoda bats,^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]} they are found in the central Philippines, eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the north-east coast of Australia.^{[6] [7]}

Taxonomy

The genus was erected by Moritz Balthasar Borkhausen in 1797. The name Nyctimene, derived from Ancient Greek, does not mean ‘night moon’ as been suggested, but roughly 'who stays up at night'.

Description

The facial features of the species are distinguished by projecting nostrils, rather than the simple features of most other megabats, the appearance of which has been likened to a frightened horse.^[8]

Species

The recognised taxa are named in the vernacular as tube-nosed fruit bats or tube-nosed bats, and includes the following

• Broad-striped tube-nosed bat, Nyctimene aello
• Common tube-nosed bat, Nyctimene albiventer
• Pallas's tube-nosed bat, Nyctimene cephalotes
• Dark tube-nosed bat, Nyctimene celaeno
• Mountain tube-nosed bat, Nyctimene certans
• Round-eared tube-nosed bat, Nyctimene cyclotis
• Dragon tube-nosed bat, Nyctimene draconilla
• Keast's tube-nosed bat, Nyctimene keasti
• Island tube-nosed bat, Nyctimene major
• Malaita tube-nosed bat, Nyctimene malaitensis
• Demonic tube-nosed bat, Nyctimene masalai
• Lesser tube-nosed bat, Nyctimene minutus
• Philippine tube-nosed bat, Nyctimene rabori
• Eastern tube-nosed bat, Nyctimene robinsoni
• Nendo tube-nosed bat, Nyctimene sanctacrucis
• Umboi tube-nosed bat, Nyctimene vizcaccia
• New Guinea tube-nosed bat, Nyctimene wrightae^[9]

Further reading

• Taxonomy browser (Nyctimene)
• Biography for Nyctimene
• The mammals on our stamps. Descriptions of the mammals featured on Papua New Guinea's October 1980 stamps issue.
• Taxonomic status of Nyctimene (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae) from the Banda, Kai and Aru Islands, Maluku, Indonesia - implications for biogeography.
• Electrophoretic resolution of species boundaries in tube-nosed bats (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae) in Australia and Papua New Guinea.
• Notes on distribution and taxonomy of Australasian bats. I. Pteropodinae and Nyctimeninae (Mammalia, Megachiroptera, Pteropodidae).
• Markedly discordant mitochondrial DNA and allozyme phylogenies of tube-nosed fruit bats, Nyctimene, at the Australian-oriental biogeographical interface.

Notes and References

1. http://www.catalogueoflife.org/annual-checklist/2010/browse/tree/id/2283014 2010 Annual Checklist :: Taxonomic tree
2. http://www.ubio.org/browser/details.php?namebankID=2477162 Namebank Record Detail
3. http://www.organismnames.com/details.htm?lsid=252343 ION: Index to Organism Names
4. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=631294 ITIS Standard Report Page: Nyctimene
5. http://www.eol.org/pages/100321 Nyctimene - Encyclopedia of Life
6. http://www.boldsystems.org/views/taxbrowser.php?taxid=159289 Taxonomy Browser
7. http://data.gbif.org/species/13191342 Data Use Agreement - GBIF Portal
8. Encyclopedia: Hall . L.S. . Strahan . R. . Ronald Strahan . Complete book of Australian mammals. The national photographic index of Australian wildlife . Queensland Tube-nosed bat Nyctimene robinsoni . 1983 . Angus & Robertson . London . 0207144540 . 286–287. National Photographic Index of Australian Wildlife .
9. Irwin . Nancy . A new tube-nosed fruit bat from New Guinea, Nyctimene wrightae sp. nov., a re-diagnosis of N. certans and N. cyclotis (Pteropodidae: Chiroptera), and a review of their conservation status . Records of the Australian Museum . 9 August 2017 . 69 . 2 . 73–100 . EN. 10.3853/j.2201-4349.69.2017.1654 . free .