Pteropus Brisson, 1762. Regnum Animale Ed. 2, pp. 13, 153.
Vespertilio vampirus niger Kerr, 1792, type species by designation under plenary powers of the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature
Pteropus vetulus Jouan, 1863.
Mem. Soc. Imp. Sci. Nat. Cherbourg 9: 90.
New Caledonian Flying Fox
vetulus Jouan, 1863:
germaini Dobson, 1878;
macmillani Tate, 1942.
New Caledonia (France)
New Caledonia (France)
CITES - Appendix II IUCN - Near Threatened as Pteropus vetula (2020).
References:
Almeida, F.C., N.P. Giannini, N.B. Simmons, and K.M. Helgen. 2014. Each flying fox on its own branch: a phylogenetic tree for Pteropus and related genera (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 77: 83-95. Read article.
Felten, H 1964. Flughunde der Gattung Pteropus von Neukaledonien und den Loyalty-Inseln. Senckenbergiana Biologica 45: 671-683. Not available online.
Flannery, T.F. 1995. Mammals of the South-West Pacific and Moluccan Islands. Cornell University Press, Ithaca: 464 pp. Not available online.
Hintsche, S. 2019. Pteropus vetula. Pages 149-150 In D.E. Wilson and R.A. Mittermeier (eds.) Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 9 Bats. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. Not available online.
Ingleby, S., and D. Colgan. 2003. Electrophoretic studies of the systematic and biogeographic relationships of the Fijian bat genera Pteropus, Pteralopex, Chaerephon and Notopteris.. Australian Mammalogy 25(1): 13-29. Read abstract.
International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature 1999. International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. Fourth Edition. [Including Declaration 44, amendments of Article 74.7.3, and the Amendment on e-publication]. The International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature, London: 306 pp. Read book.
Jouan, H. 1863. Sur quelques anuimaux observés a la Nouvelle-Calédonie, pendant les années 1861 et 1862. Mémoires de la Société Impériale des Sciences Naturelles de Cherbourg 9(1863): 89-127. Read article.
Peters, H.W. 1868 [dated 1867]. Hr. W. Peters las über die Fiederhunde, Pteropi, und insbesondere über die Arten der Gattung Pteropus s. s. Monatsberichte der Königlichen Preussische Akademie des Wissenschaften zu Berlin 1867: 319-333. Read article.
Tsang, S.M.S. 2015. Phylogeography of Southeast Asian flying foxes (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae: Pteropus) (Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation). City University of New York New York. Read dissertation.
vetulus species group; see Almeida et al. (2014). And see also Tsang (2015). Includes macmillani; see Felten (1964). Also see Flannery (1995) and Ingleby and Colgan (2003). The original spelling of the species epithet is vetula, meaning "old woman," and the epithet was capitalized in the text. Jouan (1863) capitalized nouns in apposition, and therefore "vetula" should be considered a noun in apposition, which would retain its original spelling with the gender ending unchanged when transferred to another genus (ICZN article 31.2.1,1999; Hintsche, 2019; Zijlstra, pers.comm, 2023). However, as early as 1867, Peters (1867) used the spelling vetulus, "old man," and attributed it to the original describer, Jouan (1863), even though the species remained in Pteropus. Since that time, "vetulus" has been the only spelling used until 2019, when Hintsche (2019) pointed out that "vetula" was the original spelling. Given that "vetulus" has been in prevailing use for more than a century, we conserve "vetulus" following sections 33.2.3.1 and 33.3.1 of the ICZN, which state that spellings in prevailing use and attributed to the original describer should be considered "justified emendations" and preserved as the "correct original spelling."