Pteropus mariannus Desmarest 1822

Pteropus mariannus Desmarest 1822, Mammalogie, in: Encycl. Meth., 2 (Suppl.): 547.

Type Locality: West Pacific, Mariana Isls, Guam (USA).

Vernacular Names: Marianas Flying Fox.

Synonyms: Pteropus vanikorensis Quoy and Gaimard 1830 .

Subspecies::

Subspecies Pteropus mariannus subsp. mariannus Desmarest 1822

Subspecies Pteropus mariannus subsp. paganensis Yamashima 1932

Subspecies Pteropus mariannus subsp. ulthiensis Yamashima 1932

Distribution: S Mariana Isls through Guam to Ulithi Isl.

Conservation: CITES – Appendix I; U.S. ESA – Endangered (but proposed reclassification to Threatened) in Guam as P. m. mariannus; Proposed Threatened in the Aguijan, Tinian, Saipan populations. IUCN / SSC Action Plan (1992) – Endangered: Limited Distribution. IUCN 2003 – Endangered.

Discussion: mariannus species group. Probably includes vanikorensis, see Troughton (1930). If vanikorensis is in fact from the Mariana Isls (rather than Vanikoro Isl in the Santa Cruz Isls), it would likely be a synonym of either the nominate subspecies or paganensis. Systematics of this complex is somewhat confused; some authors have included pelewensis, ualanus, and yapensis as subspecies of mariannus (e.g., Koopman, 1994), while others have treated them as distinct species without comment (e.g., Corbet and Hill, 1980). I follow Flannery (1995 b) in provisionally recognizing pelewensis, ualanus, and yapensis as distinct species pending further study.