A new Pteropodidae species was recently described from southwestern Sulawesi, Indonesia, by SEABCRU members, Dr. Ibnu Maryanto and Mr. Sigit Wiantoro, and their colleagues in Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense. Thoopterus suhaniahae, a median-sized fruit bat, was formerly regarded as a variation of T. nigrescens, but distinguished from its sympatric sibling by larger body size and several morphological traits, including the microstructures of penis in male bats. The species was named after Suhaniah, the wife of Mohamad Yani, which was a coauthor to this paper. “The finding of the new fruit bat species indicates again that the significance of Sulawesi as a hotspot of Pteropodidae in Southeast Asia.” said by Dr. Maryanto, who led this study of the new species.
Source: Ibnu Maryanto, Mohamad Yani, Siti Nuramaliati Prijono and Sigit Wiantoro . 2012. A new species of fruit bat (Megachiroptera: Pteropodidae: Thoopterus) from Sulawesi and adjacent islands, Indonesia. RECORDS OF THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM, Vol. 27: 68-84.
Source: Jakarta Globe online (In English)
Source: KOMPAS online (In Bahasa Indonesian)
http://biologi.lipi.go.id/bio_indonesia/mTemplate.php?h=3&id_berita=421
