Volume 71, Issue 4

Miniopterus majori , named from specimens collected in the Central Highlands of Madagascar, is generally considered a bat of higher elevations and its known day roosts include caves and rock shelters. A series of 15 specimens collected by Léon Humblot in the Comoros Islands (Grande Comore) in the late 19th century are the only known records of this taxon outside Madagascar. We compared specimens of M. majori from Madagascar (Central Highlands) to those from Grande Comore and concluded that they are similar and best considered conspecific, based on morphological and cranial characters. No evidence of M. majori was found during a recent extensive survey of Grande Comore, with the majority of caves on the island known to hold bats visited. It is proposed that the locality information of the Humblot specimens is incorrect and that they were collected on Madagascar.

In 2002, a small population of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, Sousa chinensis , was discovered in the coastal waters of the eastern Taiwan Strait. Serious conservation concerns about this population led to a survey of most of the coastal waters of western Taiwan to better understand the status of this population. Surveys were conducted from boats (inshore waters) and a sea-kayak or land-based platforms (littoral waters inshore of large sandbars). Humpback dolphins were sighted 35 times, all within a stretch of inshore waters approximately 100 km (linear distance) and within 2 km from shore (none were observed in littoral waters). Including consideration of other records of this species, the main distribution of these dolphins was estimated to be approximately 515 km 2 of water off central western Taiwan, where industrialization is a serious and rapidly increasing issue. The population's abundance and density were estimated to be 99 individuals (coefficient of variation 51.6%) and 19.3 individuals/100 km 2 , respectively, which is quite low when compared to the Pearl River estuary population. Assessing this population using the IUCN Red List criteria resulted in a “Critically Endangered” categorization, reinforcing the urgency of the situation.

The dusky fruit bat Penthetor lucasi is a small and poorly known species (Megachiroptera, Pteropodidae) inhabiting Southeast Asia. I studied its reproduction in Brunei, northern Borneo, where individuals were usually captured in rainforest. The climate of the study area is characterized by uniformly high temperatures and rainfall, but with two seasons of greater rainfall (April to July and October to December) and two of lesser rainfall. Based upon my data, I estimate the following regarding reproduction of P. lucasi. In general, reproduction of P. lucasi is characterized by a synchronized birth season around the month of October. Birth is followed by a postpartum estrus and mating; 2–4 months of lactation; a prolonged period of delayed embryonic development; and then relatively rapid embryonic development from July to September, with the subsequent birth likewise around October. In sum, the reproductive cycle is consistent with a pattern of seasonal monestry. The synchronized birth season of P. lucasi does not correspond to the season of abundant flowering/fruiting (April to June) at the study site; rather, the species was relatively absent during this time. Thus, reproduction of P. lucasi appears linked to the flowering/fruiting and availability of specific plant species. This conforms to the concept of a sequential food specialist in which a species uses only a small and select fraction of the plants that are flowering/fruiting at any period of time. Females become sexually mature when weighing approximately 33.0–34.0 g in body mass with forearms approximately 5.7–6.2 cm in length. Males attain sexual maturity at approximately 27.0–30.0 g body mass with forearms approximately 5.4–5.8 cm in length. Seasonal testis recrudescence was not observed.

A small population of Commerson's dolphin ( Cephalorhynchus commersonii ), widely separated from the South American main population, inhabits the coastal waters of the Kerguelen Islands (Indian sector of the Antarctic or Southern Ocean). The dolphins of this population differ from those of South America by their pigmentation and morphology. Several arguments, including geographic isolation, morphological difference and genetic data (absence of genetic flow between populations and haplotype differences) lead to formally distinguishing a new subspecies, Cephalorhynchus commersonii kerguelenensis , from a nominate subspecies, Cephalorhynchus commersonii commersonii .