Pteropus melanotus Blyth, 1863

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 : 427

5. Pteropus melanotus Blyth, 1863

Black-eared Flying Fox

New record South Andaman Islands: East Twin Island.

Previous records

South Andaman Islands: No exact location (ZSIK); Rutland Island, South Sentinel Island, and Port Blair ( Mason, 1908; Hill, 1971).

Comments

The Andaman Island specimens belong to the subspecies P. m. tytleri. Only four specimens were captured and collected. Historically, this species was reported from Rutland Island, South Sentinel Island, and Port Blair ( Mason, 1908; Hill, 1971). Aul et al. (2014) reported the sightings of this species from Paget Island, Kwagtung Island, and Landfall Island in North Andaman Islands; Interview Island in Middle Andaman Islands, and Boat Island and Rutland Island in South Andaman Islands. Two specimens labeled P. melanotus from Barren Island — collected by Ms. Bandana Aul in the collection of Harrison Institute (HZM 1.34461 and 2.37630) — are misidentified P. hypomelanus owing to their smaller forearm length (FA <147.00 mm). We did not come across this species from any other localities except East Twin Island and Rutland Island. A large roost of P. m. tytleri was located on the East Twin Island, and these bats were seen feeding on East Twin Island and Rutland Island in the South Andaman Islands.