HIPPOSIDEROS DIADEMA (CHIROPTERA HIPPOSIDERIDAE) IN THE LESSER SUNDA ISLANDS, INDONESIA TAXONOMY AND GEOGRAPHIC MORPHOLOGICAL VARIATION

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 1 decade ago

Abstract - A morphological study, using multivariate statistical analyses, was carried out on 157 specimens of Hipposideros diadema from the Lesser Sunda Is, Borneo, Java, Thailand, Peninsula Malaysia, Philippines, New Guinea, Solomon Is, Bismark Is, and Australia. This study indicates that two forms of H. diadema occur in the Lesser Sunda Is: H. d. nobilis (Horsfield, 1823) - Borneo, Java, Bali, Nusa Penida, Lombok; and H. d. diadema (Geoffroy, 1813) - Sumbawa, Moyo, Sumba, Flores, Roti, Savu and Timor.

Hipposideros diadema is sexually dimorphic for skull, dentary and dental characters; for many measurements males average slightly larger than females. Female H. d. diadema show a cline in overall skull size with a trend to increase from west to east along the Lesser Sunda island chain.

Hipposideros diadema subspecies morphologically similar to the Lesser Sunda subspecies were revisved taxonomically, redescribed and diagnosed against each other. These were H. d. masoni (Dobson, 1872) - Thailand, Malay Peninsula; H. d. griseus (Meyen, 1833) - New Guinea, Philippines; H. d. reginae Troughton, 1937 - Queensland, Australia; and H. d. oceanitis - Solomon and Bismarck Is.

There are three phenetic groupings in the H. diadema subspecies considered, based on external and skuli'measurements combined. Hipposideros d. diadema, H. d. reginae and H. d. masoniform one group; H. d. griseus and H. d. oceanitis a second group; and H. d. nobilis clusters separately.