Pteropus tonganus geddiei MacGillivary

1860. Pteropus geddiei MacGillivary, Zoologist, 18:7134, September, type from Aneitum Island, New Hebrides; 1912, Andersen, Catalogue of the Chiroptera ... British Museum, 1:189; 1931, Sanborn, Publ. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Zool. Ser., 18:13, February 12, from Rennell Island in the Solomons.

1914. Pteropus tonganus geddiei, Revilliod, in Sarasin and Roux, Nova Caledonia (A), 1:341; 1954, Laurie and Hill, List of land mammals of New Guinea, Celebes and adjacent islands, p. 34, June 30.

Specimens examined.—None.

Remarks.—Pteropus tonganus geddiei, as far as is known, is the widest ranging subspecies of this genus. It is the only megachiropteran in the Solomon Islands having affinities with bats to the southeast (the New Hebrides, Santa Cruz Islands, Samoan Islands and Fiji Islands) rather than with those to the west (New Guinea). The subspecies P. tonganus geddiei, which ranges from the Solomons to the New Hebrides (about 500 miles straight-line distance), is said to be remarkably uniform throughout its range. Sanborn (1931:14) compared color and size in specimens from the Solomon Islands and the New Hebrides and found little variation. Another subspecies, P. t. bascilicus Thomas 1915, apparently closely related to geddiei, is known from Dampier [= Kar-kar] Island off the northeastern coast of New Guinea and therefore farther westward from the New Hebrides than are the Solomon Islands. Additional remarks on the distribution of this species are in the section on Zoogeography and Speciation.

Pteropus rayneri

Pteropus rayneri is endemic to the Solomon Islands. It is divisible into seven subspecies (see [Fig. 6]), which, excepting P. r. rennelli and P. r. cognatus, are strikingly colored—the mantle, back, and rump being of different colors. Differences in color and size provide characters differentiating the subspecies (see key, [p. 793]). Recorded lengths of forearms do not overlap between any two subspecies. P. r. grandis, northernmost in distribution, has the longest (about 170) forearm and P. r. cognatus, known from two of the southernmost islands, has the shortest (about 121).

Fig. 6. Distribution of Pteropus rayneri: P. r. rayneri (