Endangered
Black-bearded flying fox
Pteropus melanopogon
Black-bearded flying fox is a bat in the family Pteropodidae (order Chiroptera) — Pteropus melanopogon, recorded as Endangered.
Appearance
The fur is dark red on its brow, face, between the eyes, and under the jaw. On its head, neck, shoulders, and ventral side, it is bright reddish brown. Individual hairs are bicolored, with the base of the hair pale and yellowish while the tip is darker.
Adults weigh approximately 510–900 g (1.12–1.98 lb). It is one of the heavier species of its family, based on the few individuals that have been weighed.
Range and habitat
It is endemic to the Maluku Islands, that are a part of Indonesia. The only known remaining colony roosts in mangrove forests on Seram Island. In the past, its range included Ambon Island, Buru, Banda Islands, and Yamdena, though there are no recent observations on any of these islands.
It is endemic to Indonesia, found on the islands of Ambon, Buru, Seram, Banda, and Yamdena.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
In crisis
In the 1800s, its population was abundant. It is currently evaluated as endangered by the IUCN. At present, there is only one colony of this species remaining, and it consists of fewer than 200 individuals.
The species is not protected, and the habitat that supports the remaining colony is not protected either. From 2016–2049, its population is expected to decline by 50%.
CITES lists this taxon on Appendix II. Confirm the current appendix on the CITES checklist.
Black-bearded flying fox is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Black-bearded flying fox, Wikidata item Q1947353. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
