
%0 Journal Article
%A Parnaby, HE 
%T A taxonomic review of the genus Pteralopex (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae), the monkey-faced bats of the south-western Pacific.
%J Australian Mammalogy
%D 2001/06/01
%V 23
%N 2
%P 145-162
%K 
%R https://doi.org/10.1071/AM01145
%U https://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/AM01145 
%X Morphological variation in the genus Pteralopex is reviewed to evaluate species limits and diagnostic criteria. Five species are recognised: P. atrata and P. pulchra from Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands; P. anceps from Bougainville and Buka Islands, Papua New Guinea, and Choiseul and Isabel Islands, Solomon Islands; and P. acrodonta from Taveuni, Fiji. A new species is described from New Georgia and Vangunu Islands, Solomon Islands. It resembles P. pulchra but differs in dental, cranial and pelage characters. A number of criteria previously considered diagnostic for P. anceps are shown to be invalid. The new species faces a high extinction risk from logging operations and pressure from expanding human populations, and an IUCN threat category of ‘Critically Endangered’ is proposed. All Pteralopex species face a high risk of extinction and conservation measures such as habitat protection are urgently required. 
