Pteropus loochoensis (Okinawa Flying Fox)

[sebbe67]

Pteropus loochoensis Gray in 1870. IUCN grading: Extinct (Baillie & Groombridge, 1996) The Okinawa Flying Fox is believed to have lived on Okinawa and the Ryukyu islands, but has not been sighted since its initial description in 1870. The species is now regarded as extinct (Baillie & Groombridge, 1996). Little information exists on this species and the only two specimens in existence are held in the British Museum. They have a blackish coloured body with short fur and a pale mantle (Y. Osawa, pers. comm.).

www.batconservancy.org/japan-and-taiwan-bat-conservation.php

[another specialist]

OKINAWA FLYING-FOX (E)
Pteropus loochoensis

Species Authority Gray, 1870
Assessment Information
Red List Category & Criteria EX ver 2.3 (1994)
Year Assessed 2000
Assessor/s Ishii, N.
Evaluator/s Hutson, A. & Ishii, N. (Chiroptera Specialist Group)

Justification

MacPhee and Flemming (1999) consider this species to be extant as P. marianus. The IUCN/SSC Chiroptera Specialist Group now accept P. loochoensis as a separate species which should be regarded as extinct.

History

1994 - Extinct (Groombridge 1994)
1996 - Extinct (Baillie and Groombridge 1996)

Pteropus loochoensis was a species endemic to Japan. It occurred on the Ryukyu Islands in the East China Sea.

www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php?species=18773

officially declared extinct

[another specialist]

Okinawa, Cape Zampa: A fruit bat (flying fox) which I shot a night, Bob Roecker standing behind me shining a flashlight on my rifle sights and on the bat.

lcweb2.loc.gov/cocoon/vhp-stories/loc.natlib.afc2001001.00392/album?page=7

[sebbe67]

thank you for posting this photo , I have looked soooo long after any illustrations, pictures and photos, but I havent found anything

[another specialist]

It's my pleasure we are all here to help each other out...

[Melanie]

The Okinawa flying fox is one of over 60 species of flying fox in the Pteropodinae subfamily, within the single family of Pteropodidae under the suborder Megachiroptera of megabats. Collectively known as 'old world fruit bats' or 'fruit bats', megabats live only in tropical areas of Asia, Africa and Oceania. The Okinawa flying fox inhabited the the Ryukyi Islands in the East China Sea, southeast of Okinawa, Japan. Since 1996 it has been listed as an extinct species.


piclib.nhm.ac.uk/piclib/www/image.php?img=51634&frm=ser&search=okinawa%20fox&first=1&last=1

[another specialist]

Great we have a pic of a living specimen and a museum specimen now.

Thanks Melanie

[sebbe67]

This species is known only from three records, all postulated to have been from Okinawa Island (=Nansei-Shoto), Japan in the 19th century (Abe 2005). There are two specimens in the British Natural History Museum, and the whereabouts or existence of the third specimen is unknown. The two known specimens have been speculated to have possibly come from Southeast Asia and not Okinawa, or possibly to have been vagrants on Okinawa (Abe 2005). Therefore, this species is taxonomically uncertain and the existing specimens are of unknown provenance.
Population Unknown. Known only from three individuals from over a hundred years ago.
Habitat and Ecology Unknown.
Threats Unknown.
Conservation Measures There needs to be work to establish the taxonomic validity of this species. If established, there is a need to survey possible areas where the species may occur, including Okinawa and possibly other areas in Southeast Asia.

www.redlist.org/search/details.php?species=18773&tab=all

[another specialist]

Taxonomic Notes Some authors place this into synonymy under P. mariannus, for example Koopman (1993) and MacPhee and Fleming, 1999). Others treat it as a subspecies of the latter, while some give it full species status (Simmons 2005).

Red List Category & Criteria DD ver 3.1 (2001)
Year Assessed 2006
Assessor/s Abe, H. & Ishii, N.
Evaluator/s Sechrest, W. & Hoffmann (Global Mammal Assessment Coordinating team)
Justification This species is listed as Data Deficient as the two known specimens are taxonomically uncertain and of unknown provenance. There is not enough information to assign this species to Extinct, which it was previously classified as. More work must be done on its taxonomy, and if validated, the actual native range of the species.
History 1994 - Extinct (Groombridge 1994)
1996 - Extinct (Baillie and Groombridge 1996)
2000 - Extinct (Hilton-Taylor 2000)

This is an example of change in status from extinct to DD

www.redlist.org/search/details.php?species=18773&tab=all

[another specialist]

Pteropus loochoensis

Author: Gray, 1870.
Citation: Cat. Monkeys, Lemurs and Fruit-eating Bats, British Museum: 106.
Common Name: Japanese Flying Fox
Type Locality: Japan, Okinawa, Liû-kiû Isls.
Distribution: Okinawa Isl, Ryûkyû Isls (Japan).
Status: CITES – Appendix II. IUCN/SSC Action Plan (1992) – Endangered: Limited Distribution as P. mariannus loochoensis. IUCN 2003 – Extinct.
Comments: mariannus species group. Often included in mariannus, but see Corbet and Hill (1980) and Yoshiyuki (1989). Reviewed by Yoshiyuki (1989). Flannery (1995b) treated loochoensis as a subspecies of mariannus without comment.

www.bucknell.edu/msw3/browse.asp?s=y&id=13800320

[Melanie]

Scientific Name: Pteropus loochoensis
Species Authority
Intra-specific Authority: Gray, 1870
Common Name/s: English – Okinawa Flying-fox


Assessment Information [top]
Red List Category & Criteria: Data Deficient ver 3.1
Year Assessed: 2008
Assessor/s Maeda, K.
Evaluator/s: Hutson, A.M.M., Racey, P.A. (Chiroptera Red List Authority) & Chanson, J. (Global Mammal Assessment Team)
Justification:
This species is listed as Data Deficient as the two known specimens are taxonomically uncertain and of unknown provenance. There is not enough information to assign this species to Extinct, which it was previously classified as. More work must be done on its taxonomy, and if validated, the actual native range of the species.
History: 2006 - Data Deficient (MOST RECENT-NEEDS UPDATING)
1996 - Extinct (MOST RECENT-NEEDS UPDATING)
2000 - Extinct Reassessed by Nobuo Ishii (Japanese Wildlife Research Centre, on behalf of the Wildlife Division of the Environmental Agency of Japan) (MOST RECENT-NEEDS UPDATING)
1994 - Extinct (MOST RECENT-NEEDS UPDATING)


Geographic Range [top]
Range Description: This species is known only from three records, all postulated to have been from Okinawa Island (=Nansei-Shoto), Japan in the 19th century (Abe 2005). There are two specimens in the British Natural History Museum, and the whereabouts or existence of the third specimen is unknown. The two known specimens have been speculated to have possibly come from Southeast Asia and not Okinawa, or possibly to have been vagrants on Okinawa (Abe 2005). Therefore, this species is taxonomically uncertain and the existing specimens are of unknown provenance.
Countries: Presence uncertain:
Japan (Nansei-shoto)

Population [top]
Population: Unknown. Known only from three individuals from over a hundred years ago.
Population Trend: Unknown

Habitat and Ecology [top]
Habitat and Ecology: Unknown.
Systems: Terrestrial

Threats [top]
Major Threat(s): Unknown.

Conservation Actions [top]
Conservation Actions: There needs to be work to establish the taxonomic validity of this species. If established, there is a need to survey possible areas where the species may occur, including Okinawa and possibly other areas in Southeast Asia. It is listed as Data Deficient (DD) in the Japanese Red List.

www.redlist.org/details/18773

[Melanie]

Source: Catalogue of Monkeys, Lemurs and Fruit-eating Bats in the British Museum.

[Melanie]

I don't think that this one is the extinct species because this picture seems to be from the 20th century where Pteropus loochoensis was already extinct. I would say this could be the Ryukyu flying fox which occur on Okinawa too.

May 22, 2005 15:45:40 GMT another specialist said:

Okinawa, Cape Zampa: A fruit bat (flying fox) which I shot a night, Bob Roecker standing behind me shining a flashlight on my rifle sights and on the bat.

lcweb2.loc.gov/cocoon/vhp-stories/loc.natlib.afc2001001.00392/album?page=7

[jenniferallain]

Hey, thanks for the info, But it looks scary for me. Im afraid of bats..

[Peter]

I think you're right, Melanie. Which subspecies? The Orii's flying-fox (Pteropus dasymallus inopinatus)?

[Melanie]

Sept 16, 2010 20:24:43 GMT Peter said:

I think you're right, Melanie. Which subspecies? The Orii's flying-fox (Pteropus dasymallus inopinatus)?

Yes, this seems to be the subspecies which occur on Okinawa Island.

[koeiyabe]

Needed to do DNA analysis of Pteropus loochoensis to confirm whether or not this bat can fit P. mariannus.
P. dasymallus inopinatus endemic to the same habitat (Okinawa Island) is seen commonly, so the extinction of P. loochoensis is still inconclusive.

If P. loochoensis is the same species as P. mariannus, P. loochoensis will be belonging to Hypothetical Extinct Species or Formerly Recognized Extinct Mammals.

Here are articles of P. dasymallus inopinatus. Researchers can find the bat in many islands in the close vicinity of Okinawa Island.

link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11284-008-0516-y
www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.3161/150811012X661701
www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/mammalianscience/49/1/49_1_53/_pdf

[surroundx]

Mickleburgh, Simon P., Hutson, Anthony M. and Racey, Paul A. (1992). Old World fruit bats. An action plan for their conservation. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. viii + 252 pp.

[Sebbe]

This species should be treated as an synonym of Pteropus mariannus. This treatment is clearly supported by molecular analysis (DNA).

Each flying fox on its own branch: A phylogenetic tree for Pteropus and related genera (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae)

Pteropodidae is a diverse Old World family of non-echolocating, frugivorous and nectarivorous bats that includes the flying foxes (genus Pteropus) and allied genera. The subfamily Pteropodinae includes the largest living bats and is distributed across an immense geographic range from islands in East Africa to the Cook Islands of Polynesia. These bats are keystone species in their ecosystems and some carry zoonotic diseases that are increasingly a focus of interest in biomedical research. Here we present a comprehensive phylogeny for pteropodines focused on Pteropus. The analyses included 50 of the ∼63 species of Pteropus and 11 species from 7 related genera. We obtained sequences of the cytochrome b and the 12S rRNA mitochondrial genes for all species and sequences of the nuclear RAG1, vWF, and BRCA1 genes for a subsample of taxa. Some of the sequences of Pteropus were obtained from skin biopsies of museum specimens including that of an extinct species, P. tokudae. The resulting trees recovered Pteropus as monophyletic, although further work is needed to determine whether P. personatus belongs in the genus. Monophyly of the majority of traditionally-recognized Pteropus species groups was rejected, but statistical support was strong for several clades on which we based a new classification of the Pteropus species into 13 species groups. Other noteworthy results emerged regarding species status of several problematic taxa, including recognition of P. capistratus and P. ennisae as distinct species, paraphyly of the P. hypomelanus complex, and conspecific status of P. pelewensis pelewensis and P. p. yapensis. Relationships among the pteropodine genera were not completely resolved with the current dataset. Divergence time analysis suggests that Pteropus originated in the Miocene and that two independent bursts of diversification occurred in the Pleistocene in different regions of the Indo-Pacific realm.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1055790314001092