Cynopterus sphinx (Vahl, 1797)

Srinivasulu, Chelmala, Srinivasulu, Aditya, Srinivasulu, Bhargavi, Gopi, Asad, Dar, Tauseef Hamid, Bates, Paul J. J., Rossiter, Stephen J. & Jones, Gareth, 2017, Recent surveys of bats from the Andaman Islands, India: diversity, distribution, and echolocation characteristics, Acta Chiropterologica 19 (2), pp. 419-437 : 425-426

1. Cynopterus sphinx (Vahl, 1797)

Greater Short-nosed Fruit Bat

New records

North Andaman Islands: Chipo, Diglipur, and Ramnagar; Middle Andaman Islands: Baratang Island, Burmadera, Interview Island, Nayadera, and Webi; South Andaman Islands: Dignabad, Port Blair, and Neil Island.

Previous records

North Andaman Islands: Chalis Ek (HZM), Ramnagar (HZM); Middle Andaman Islands: Rangat (ZSIK); South Andaman Islands: Port Blair (ZSIK; Hill, 1967); Chidiatapu (ZSIK; reported as Mandapahar by Hill, 1967).

Comments

Fifty-five specimens were captured of which 12 specimens were collected. Variations with respect to hair length, pelage colouration and the shade and extent of white on ear margin and digits were observed. Aul et al. (2014) reported the sightings of this species from 27 locations in the Andaman Islands and opined the presence of hitherto undescribed Cynopterus species on the Andaman Islands. As per current taxonomic knowledge, we refer to C. sphinx on the islands by C. s. andamanensis ( Andersen, 1912) , and also suspect the presence of C. s. scherzeri on the islands alongside C. s. andamanensis . Variations among populations of C. sphinx have been observed and a study is currently underway comparing variations among the populations on the Andaman Islands, with those on the mainland.