Seram flying fox
species of bat
The Seram flying fox (Pteropus ocularis) is a species of flying fox in the family Pteropodidae. It is endemic to the mountainous forests of two of the Maluku Islands, Buru and Seram, including the Manusela National Park on Seram. They were once present on the nearby Ambon Island, but probably not anymore. The habitat has an area of less than 20,000 km2 (7,700 mi2), and is decreasing due to logging. For this reason, and because of hunting by the local population, these species are listed as vulnerable by the IUCN since 1996.
Taxonomy
The Seram flying fox was described as a new species in 1867 by German naturalist Wilhelm Peters. The holotype came from the collection of Alfred Russel Wallace and had been collected on Seram Island.
A 2020 genetic study that included nuclear and mitochondrial loci returned a maximum likelihood tree of flying foxes that had the ornate flying fox (Pteropus ornatus) as the sister taxon, or closest relative, of the Seram flying fox.
Description
The Seram flying fox is similar in appearance to the spectacled flying fox (Pteropus conspicillatus) due to the ring-like pattern of reddish-brown fur around its eyes. It is much smaller, though.
“Seram flying fox” enters the record as species of bat. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Seram, flying and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Seram flying fox” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Seram, flying and species provides the most credible route into that argument.
Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q630368. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1996, 1867 and 2020.
Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Seram flying fox” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.