Measurements.—Average and extreme measurements of three males and one female are as follows: Length of head and body, 86.1 (83.1-91.0); hind foot, 19.6 (17.2-22.2); ear, 11.3 (10.8-11.7); length of forearm, 54.4 (52.1-57.7).
Remarks.—Specimens of Melonycteris woodfordi from Choiseul constitute a new locality of occurrence for the species. Apparently M. woodfordi occurs throughout the Solomons (see [Fig. 11]).
Thomas (1887a:147) named Nesonycteris woodfordi in a preliminary report that appeared before the publication of the more detailed description of the genus and species (1887b:323-324). In the second paper he stated that the anterior projections of the premaxillary bones are separated distinctly in both Nesonycteris and Melonycteris. According to Thomas (1887b:323), it was by some "accident" that Dobson (1878:4) reported the anterior projections of the premaxillary bones in Melonycteris melanops to be united. Writing at a later date, Andersen (1912:785) reported that in Melonycteris melanops the premaxillary bones have "simple contact with each other." Furthermore, in Andersen's (1912:791) illustration of M. woodfordi the premaxillary bones are in contact anteriorly. In specimens of woodfordi and melanops examined by me, the premaxillary bones are in contact. In M. aurantius the premaxillary bones are not in contact, and it differs from woodfordi in several other respects.
In M. woodfordi, as in other macroglossine bats, there is variability in dentition. One specimen examined has a total of three upper incisors, and another had an extra peglike tooth just anterior to I1.
Subfamily Nyctimeninae
Nyctimene Borkhausen
1797. Nyctimene Borkhausen, Deutsche fauna ..., 1:86.
1810. Cephalotes É. Geoffroy, Ann. du Mus. d'Hist. Nat., 15:104.
1811. Harpyia Illiger, Prodr. Syst. Mamm. et Avium, p. 118.
1837. Gelasinus Temminck, Monographe de Mammalia ..., 2:100.