Syconycteris australis

Conservation: IUCN / SSC Action Plan (1992) – Not Threatened. IUCN 2003 – Lower Risk (lc).

Sumber: Order Chiroptera - Family Pteropodidae

Distribution: E Queensland and New South Wales (Australia); New Guinea, Aru Isl, Trobriand Isls, D'Entrecasteaux Isls, Kai Isls, Ambon, Seram, Haruku, and Boano Isls. (Indonesia), Bismarck Arch., including Manus (Papua New Guinea).

Sumber: Order Chiroptera - Family Pteropodidae

DISTRIBUTION: E Queensland and New South Wales (Australia); New Guinea; D'Entrecasteaux Isis, Trobriand Isis, Louisiade Arch., and Bismarck Arch. (Papua New Guinea); Molucca Isis; various adjacent small islands.

Sumber: Order Chiroptera

Habitat. Various forested habitats, such as upper and lower montane forests, hill forests, heathlands, lowland rainforests, monsoon forests, dry sclerophyll woodlands, and Melaleuca (Myrtaceae) swamps from sea level up to elevations of ¢. 3000 m. The Southern Blossom Bat occurs sympatrically with the Moss-forest Blossom Bat in moss forests in New Guinea, and it is often found in association with plantations and gardens, especially when foraging.

Sumber: Pteropodidae

Movements, Home range and Social organization. Southern Blossom Bats primarily roost alone or in mother-young pairs. They typically do not roost in the same place every day, selecting a different roost every morning that is typically within 50 m of the previous roost. They roost near forest edges in winter and deep within forests where it is cooler in summer. While foraging throughout the night, they will travel up to 4 km from their roosts to feeding areas, which can take 2 - 3 hours to get to because individuals sample other food sources along the way. They make the samejourney back to their roosting area early in the morning. They are highly territorial of their feeding areas and chase off conspecifics in their foraging area. Males seem to be more aggressive in their home ranges and apparently fly closer to the ground more often than females. Males seem to be more localized than females based on recapture rates. Near Crater Mountain Volcano in Papua New Guinea, nearly all recaptured individuals were males (recapture rate was 10 - 3 %). Foraging areas are generally c. 13 ha, and they use the same general area every night. Densities are 1 - 18 ind / ha and depend largely on availability of nectar rather than pollen. Sex ratio at Crater Mountain over a 14 - month period was 0 - 71: 0 - 29; bias toward males might have been due to sampling bias relative to where females foraged and flew because mist nets were 4 m aboveground.

Sumber: Pteropodidae

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. The Southern Blossom Bat seems to be highly adaptable and tolerant of habitat modification and does not seem to face any major threats. Nevertheless, south of Fraser Island in Queensland, it is locally threatened by drainage of Melaleuca (Myrtaceae) swamps. Additional research on its taxonomy could result in designation of new species with smaller distributions and populations that could be threatened.

Sumber: Pteropodidae