Pteropus tonganus heffernani Troughton, 1930

Parnaby, Harry E., Ingleby, Sandy & Divljan, Anja, 2017, Type Specimens of Non-fossil Mammals in the Australian Museum, Sydney, Records of the Australian Museum 69 (5), pp. 277-420 : 388-389

Pteropus tonganus heffernani Troughton, 1930

Rec. Aust. Mus. 18(1): 3. (10 November 1930).

Common name. Pacific Flying-fox.

Current name. Pteropus tonganus geddiei MacGillivray, 1860 ; following Flannery (1995c).

Holotype. M.4646 by original designation. Male, skull, study skin, collected and donated by Dr Raymond Firth. Collection date not given, registered on 19 August 1929.

Condition. Incomplete cranium, missing left zygomatic arch, right post-orbital process; left dentary missing distal part of ascending ramus; right dentary complete. Study skin, complete.

Type locality. Tikopia Island, east of Santa Cruz Island Group, Timotu Province, Solomon Islands.

Paratypes. (25, 24 by subsequent determination). M.4768 , body in alc. and M.4769 , skull, study skin, both males; M.4770 , male, body in alc., all three from near Namumbo Village , Reef Island, Santa Cruz Island Group, collected 21–22 July 1926 by E. Le G. Troughton and A. A. Livingstone. M.4771 , female, skull, study skin; M.4776 , male, body in alc., (juvenile of M.4771), both from Vanikoro Island , opposite Naunaha Islet, collected on 4 August 1926 by E. Le G. Troughton and A. A. Livingstone. M.4772 , male, body in alc.; M.4773 , male, skull, study skin; M.4774 , female, body in alc.; M.4775 , male, body in alc., all four from Peu , Vanikoro Island, the Santa Cruz Group, collected 12 August 1926 by E. Le G. Troughton and A. A. Livingstone. M.4754 , male, skull, study skin, M.4755 , male, body in alc.; M.4756 – 57 , both females, bodies in alc., M.4758 , male, skull and skeleton (juv. of M.4757), M.4759 , male, body in alc., M.4760 , female, skull, study skin, all seven from Trevanian Island , off Santa Cruz Island, collected 17–18 August 1926 by E. Le G. Troughton and A. A. Livingstone. M.4647 – 51, five adult males, all bodies in alc.; M.4652 by original designation (allotype), female, skull, study skin; M.4653 – 55 , three adult females, all bodies in alc., all nine specimens from Tikopia Island , collected by Dr Raymond Firth, (collection date not given), all registered 19 August 1929 .

Comments. Troughton stated in his original account that a total of 26 specimens were examined. He cited registration numbers of the holotype and allotype, but not for the remaining 24 specimens, for which he gave collectors and localities only. The 24 specimens listed above are the only ones with matching locality and dates, and we regard them to be paratypes although they are not indicated as such by Troughton, either in the original register or on specimen labels (we have not located original specimen index cards for the series). The unpublished type specimen list prepared by Troughton (1956) sheds no light on the type series as it does not list paratypes for any names proposed by him.