===========+===========+==============+===========+============= | Total | Number | | Number of MONTH | number | adult [F][F] | Number | immature | collected | collected | lactating | individuals -----------+-----------+--------------+-----------+------------- December | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 January | 11 | 11 | 8 | 0 February | 6 | 0 | -- | 1 March | 16 | 1 | 0 | 9 April | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 June | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 -----------+-----------+--------------+-----------+------------- As shown in Table 1, adult females obtained in December and January were lactating when captured whereas those obtained in March, April, and June were not. More than half of the individuals collected in March were immature (judging from small size, unfused epiphyses, and lack of wear on teeth). The immature individuals probably had been nursing in December and January. =Pteralopex= Thomas 1888. _Pteralopex_ Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 6, 1:155, February 1. 1762. _Pteropus_ Brisson, Regnum animale ..., ed. 2, p. 153. _Pteralopex_, with one species and two subspecies, is the only megachiropteran genus endemic to the Solomons. Thomas (1888b:475) considered this unusual bat a relic, isolated from the time when pteropodids had cuspidate cheek-teeth. Although two workers (Matschie, 1899:11; Simpson, 1945:54) have synonymized _Pteralopex_ with _Pteropus_, I regard _Pteralopex_ as a morphologically distinct genus. Individuals of _Pteralopex_ can be distinguished from all species of _Pteropus_ in the Solomon Islands by the following features: wing membranes originate along dorsal midline; braincase diminutive relative to rest of skull; sagittal crest pronounced; cheek-teeth cuspidate, broad and massive; i2 about 10 times larger than i1; upper canines with well-developed secondary cusp; postorbital process fused with zygomatic arch, forming complete bony ring around orbit.