Saccolaimus mixtus Troughton, 1925

Chimimba, CT. & Kitchener, D. J., 2022, A SYSTEMATIC REVISION OF AUSTRALIAN EMBALLONURIDAE (MAMMALIA CHIROPTERA), Records of the Western Australian Museum 15 (1), pp. 203-265 : 222-224

Saccolaimus mixtus Troughton, 1925

Figure 8 ; Table I

Saccolaimus mixtus Troughton. E. le G. (1925). A revision of the genera Taphozous and Saccolaimus (Chiroptera) in Australia and New Guinea. including a new species. and a note on two Malayan forms, Rec, Ausl. Mus. 14: 313- 341 pis 47-48.

Holotype AM A3257 male. skin (wet). skull not extracted. from Port Moresby. Papua New Guinea ,

Diagnosis (mean values) Saccolaimus mixtus differs from S.flaviventris and S. saccolaimus in being smaller in addition to other characteristics as outlined in the diagnoses of S..flaviventris and S. saccolaimus .

Description (means and ranges)

Skull and Dcntary ( Figure 8 ).

Skull medium sized: greatest skull length 2 L 8 (21.7-21.9); mastoid width 12.1, distance outside bullae 11.3 (11.0- 11.6), canine width 1.8 (1.7- 1.8), inter-upper canine distance 4.6 (4.5-4.8), upper maxillary tooth row crown length 9.9 (9.8- 10.0), sphenoid pit length 4.0; frontal depression of skull deep; interorbital region broad, with edges markedly concave; sagittal crest just reaches occiput; a deep groove present on posterior floor of mesopterygoid fossa; sphenoid pit rather shallow, with median septum barely reaching floor of mesopterygoid fossa; dentary lower outline beneath premolars broadly convex, or straight, convexity reaches its maximum beneath posterior premolar.

External Morphology

Medium size: radius length 63.6 (63.1 -64.2); radial-metacarpal pouch present; gular sac present in males (females not examined); tragus slightly thickened, rounded, with sac lower inner margin concave, sloping gradually upwards to form obliquely rounded top. Pelage and Skin Colour

Dorsal pelage Proufs Brown, darkest on head and shoulders, neck region speckled with Buff Brown; ventral surface unicoloured with light shade of greyish Buff Brown; dark brown thick tuft of hair from an area posterior to eye which continues in a sparser band to inside of ear; upper outer two-thirds of ear naked; face anterior to eye thinly furred; dorsally, fur does not extend far onto wing membrane, only to between upper quarter of femur and upper half of humerus; fur does not extend to interfemoral membrane beyond a line level with the anal opening, the rest of the membrane, however, sparsely furred; ventrally, light hairs cover wing membrane to a line along radius, terminating in a thick patch at radial-metacarpal joint; wing membrane and ear conch dark brown and lighter coloured between the digits: ear conch dark brown Glans Penis

.

Not available for examination.

Baculum

Not available for examination.

Distribution

Saccolaimus mixtus is chiefly a south east Papua New Guinea species ( Honacki et al. 1982; Koopman 1984b). In Queensland, three specimens have been collected from Brown's Creek, Pascoe River, in the northern part of Cape York Peninsula and another seven from Weipa (Figure 61).

Natural History

Saccolaimus mixtus is rare in collections. In western Papua New Guinea it roosts in limestone caves (Richards 1983 b). It is insectivorous and predatory, it forages above the canopy in tall open forests. No information is available on its reproduction.

Specimens Examined

Listed in Appendix I.

Figures

Figure 8 Skull and dentary of SaccolaimLls mix/LIs(AM M3258.paratype).Ventralviewof skullis presented as stereopairs. Scale linesare5.0mm.