"flying fox"
The Mindoro stripe-faced fruit bat (Styloctenium mindorensis ), nicknamed the "flying fox" for its foxlike face (although it is not a flying fox bat), is a species of large Philippine megabat. It is endemic to the island of Mindoro. The Mindoro stripe-faced fruit bat ranked sixth in the top ten species of 2008, selected by the International Institute for Species Exploration.
Aboriginal rock art dating back some 20,000 years, from near Kalumburu in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, depicts several bats similar to Styloctenium mindorensis hanging from a branch or vine. The paintings belong to a category of sophisticated rock art known as Bradshaws. The facial markings on the paintings are particularly clear and have led researchers to conclude that the subjects were either S. mindorensis or a closely related species.
S. mindorensis is a typical fruit bat, possessing modified forearms for flight, short clawed hind legs and large ears. The bat shares many anatomical features with the rest of its genus, which was originally described from just one species. These include an overall orange pelage, a white stripe down the middle of the bat's rostrum and white spots above its eyes. S. mindorensis can be distinguished from the other member of its genus by its possession of multicusped lower and upper canine teeth.
While no population studies has been done so far on the species, it has been suggested that it may be threatened by hunting and habitat loss due to the general deforestation of forests on Mindoro. Along with other large pteropodids on the island, the bat is hunted by the locals for food. The describer went so far as to state that because of these threats, the species may be at risk of extinction. It is assessed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
