Keast's tube-nosed fruit bat

Keast's tube-nosed fruit bat (Nyctimene keasti) is a species of megabat in the family Pteropodidae found in Babar, Tanimbar, and the Kai Islands. It was named after Colin Keast. ^[2]

Keast's tube-nosed fruit bat
Conservation status
Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Chiroptera
Family:	Pteropodidae
Genus:	Nyctimene
Species:	N. keasti
Binomial name
Nyctimene keasti Kitchener, Packer, and Maryanto, 1993.[2]
Keast's tube-nosed fruit bat range

Description

Keast's tube-nosed fruit bat is a species in the genus Nyctimene, which includes bats that have prominent nostrils splaying out in opposite directions. The pelage of the species is gender dimorphic, males are notably darker and fawn-coloured, females are predominantly buff-yellow lightened by a drab colour at the base of the hair.^[3]

Taxonomy

The taxon was first described as a subspecies of Nyctimene albiventer in 1993.^[2] A review of the systematics two years later elevated the status of the group to species and distinguished island populations previously described as Nyctimene cephalotes.^[3] The holotype was collected in 1992 in a mist net, close to sea level, at the edge of forest near a lake, on an island in the Maluku (province). The epithet of the species refers to an honorary assistant at the Western Australian Museum, Colin Keast, who assisted in the preparation of the specimen's skulls.^[2]