208 
hairs Dark Grayish Brown tipped with Pale 
Neutral Gray. 
Distribution 
Western Australia, Kai Islands, Seram, Papua 
New Guinea and probably Ambon. 
Remarks 
The earlier DFA indicated that on skull 
characters the two Papua New Guinea and the 
single Seram specimens allocated to the Western 
Australia Myotis m. moluccarum. However, on 
externals, one of these PNG specimens was 
intermediate between the Western Australian M.m. 
moluccarum and the Queensland/Northern 
Territory M. m. richardsi; the other PNG specimen 
allocated to this latter subspecies (there were no 
external measurements for the Seram specimen). 
Direct comparison between the forms of M. 
moluccarum examined in this study with the 
holotype of this species from the Kai Islands was 
not possible. 
Recent expeditions by us (Kitchener et al. 1993a) 
and by a team from the Australian Museum, also 
failed to collect Myotis moluccarum on the Kai 
Islands. Comparison of the Western Australian 
form with measurements of this holotype 
presented in Thomas (1915) indicated that it was 
clearly closer in size to this holotype than was the 
Queensland/Northem Territory form. 
The form of M. moluccarum from the Solomon Is 
(Anamygdon solomonis Troughton, 1929) appears to 
be distinct from the other forms of this species. 
However, because we examined only two 
specimens we tentatively follow more recent 
classifications and retain this form in synonymy 
with M. m. moluccarum. It is noted that the P' and 
P 4 cingula of our two Solomon Island specimens 
were not in contact. In the holotype of A. solomonis, 
Troughton (1929: 91) stated that these two upper 
premolars were in contact. Their dorsal pelage was 
Dusky Brown; ventral pelage Burnt Umber with 
very slight frosting on tips; the venter was not 
'pale' as in the other taxa reviewd herein. We did 
not observe the baculum of the Solomon Island 
form. 
The subspecific taxonomy of M. moluccarum 
remains somewhat obscure, however its 
clarification will depend on availability for study 
of more extensive series of specimens from Maluku 
Tenggara, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Is. 
Myotis moluccarum richardsi subsp. nov. 
Kitchener 
Holotype 
Queensland Museum (JM) No. 5335; adult 
female, skull separate, carcase preserved in 75% 
D.J. Kitchener, N. Cooper, I. Maryanto 
ethanol; collected by P. Myroniuk on 22 December 
1985. 
Type locality 
Gayundah Creek, Hinchinbrook Island, 
Queensland, Australia (18°22'S, 146°13'E); mist 
netted over creek in rainforest at sea level. 
Paratypes 
Listed in 'Specimens examined' section. 
Diagnosis 
Myotis moluccarum richardsi differs from Myotis 
moluccarum moluccarum, excluding the Solomon 
Island form, as detailed in the earlier diagnoses of 
that subspecies. 
It differs from the Solomon Island form of M. 
moluccarum in the same way that it differs from M. 
m. moluccarum except that its ears are not notably 
shorter (see Figure 14 and Phillips and Birney 
1968). 
Description 
The morphology of M.m. richardsi is as described 
earlier for M.m. moluccarum except for differences 
noted in the earlier diagnosis and as follows: P 1 
and P 4 cingulum occasionally in contact, but 
usually not. The baculum is also similar to M.m. 
moluccarum from Western Australia (type 1, Figure 
Digit 5 metacarpal length 
Figure 14 Plot of ear length versus digit 5 metacarpal 
length for Myotis moluccarum moluccarum, M. 
moluccarum (Solomon Is) and M. m. richardsi 
subsp. nov. Locality codes as for Figure 2. 
