141 
Systematic review of Nyctimene cephalotes and N. albiventer 
BMNH 99.12.3.2, adult male, 'cabinet' skin, skull 
and mandibles separate, collected by A.S. Meek on 
19 March 1899. 
Type locality 
Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea, ( ca. 10°20'S, 
150°30'E) 
Species examined 
Listed in Kitchener et al. (1993) 
Diagnosis 
Nyctimene albiventer papuanus differs from N. a. 
albiventer as described in the earlier diagnosis of 
that species. 
It differs from N. albiventer subsp. indet. from 
Aru in having skull, tooth row and external 
measurements that generally average smaller. 
Rostrum height generally less relative to C'M 1 
length (Figure 18). 
Description 
Intermediate in overall skull, dentary, dental and 
external characters between N. a. keasti and N. a. 
albiventer (for measurements see Kitchener et al. 
1993: Table 1). 
Pelage colour similar to earlier N. c. cephalotes 
description. Wing membrane attached equally 
commonly to phalanx 1 of digit 2 (47%, N = 7) or at 
this level between digits 2 and 3 (53%, N = 8). 
Andersen (1912) stated that in the 14 specimens of 
papuanus he examined, this membrane was usually 
attached to phalanx 1 of digit 2 (79%, N = 11), and 
occasionally between digits 2 and 3 at level of 
phalanx 1 (14%, N=2) and on phalanx 1 of digit 3 
(7%, N = 1). 
Distribution 
Irian Jaya: Andai, Skiu. Papua New Guinea: 
Eaga, Stephansort, S. Coast, Milne Bay; Olsbip, 
Upper Fly River; near Wewak, E. Sepik; near Baku, 
Gogol Valley, Madang; Lobota Cave, and Buso, 
Morobe. Admiralty Island and Bismark 
Archipelago (Andersen 1912, Hill 1983). 
Nyctimene albiventer subsp. indet. 
Diagnosis 
This is a large form of N. albiventer which has the 
overall shape of the skull, dentary, dentition and 
colour of pelage of N. a. papuanus (for 
measurements see Kitchener et al. 1993: Table 1). It 
may be diagnosed against N. a. albiventer and N. a. 
papuanus as described in the earlier diagnoses of 
those subspecies. 
The wing membrane attaches to the pes usually 
on phalanx 1 of digit 2 (62%, N = 10) but also 
commonly at level on phalanx between digits 2 and 
3 (25%, N = 4), or on phalanx 1 of digit 3 (13%, N = 
2 ). 
Distribution 
Wokam Island, but probably all other islands in 
the Aru group. 
Specimens examined 
Listed in Kitchener et al. (1993) 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
We gratefully acknowledge the support of Mr J. 
Bannister, previous Director, Western Australian 
Museum and the current Director Mr A. Reeves; 
Drs M. Amir, Director, Balilbang Zoologi (LIPI); 
and the Director of the Indonesian Department 
responsible for the conservation of wildlife in 
Maluku Tenggara, Ir. J. Rustandi, who provided us 
with assistance in the field, as did a number of his 
staff. To our colleagues Dr Ric How and Mr Ron 
Johnstone, Western Australian Museum, and Ir 
Ibnu Maryanto, Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense, 
who participated in the exhausting field work, we 
extend our thanks for both their effort and 
companionship. Dr Ken Aplin and Dr R.A. How, 
Western Australian Museum, kindly reviewed the 
manuscript. We are grateful to Dr Tim Flannery, 
Australian Museum for the loan of specimens of 
Nyctimene from Temate, Morotai and Halmahera 
islands. Expedition costs were defrayed by grants 
to D. Kitchener from: National Geographic Society, 
Washington and Australian National Parks and 
Wildlife Service, Canberra. Some expenses were 
borne personally. Garuda Indonesia kindly 
defrayed freight costs of the expeditions. Mr C. 
Keast and Mrs N. Cooper, Western Australian 
Museum removed and cleaned the skulls. Mrs N. 
Cooper, Western Australian Museum, ran the 
computer analyses. Mrs S. Dalton, Western 
Australian Museum, typed the manuscript. 
REFERENCES 
Andersen, K. (1910). Ten new fruit bats of the genera 
Nyctimene, Cynoplerus and Eonycteris. Annals of the 
Magazine of Natural History 6: 621-625. 
Andersen, K. (1912). Catalogue of the Chiroptera in the 
collection of the British Museum. British Museum 
(Natural History), London. 2nd Ed. 
Corbet, G.B. and Hill, J.E. (1992). The mammals of the 
tndo-Malayan region; a systematic revieiv. Natural 
History Museum Publications, Oxford University 
Press. 
Geoffrey, E. (1810). Description des rousettes et des 
cephalotes, deux nouveaux genres de la famille des 
