NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Demonic Tube-nosed Fruit Bat
Nyctimene masalai Smith & Hood, 1983
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The demonic tube-nosed fruit bat (Nyctimene masalai) is a species of bat in the family Pteropodidae. It is endemic to Papua New Guinea. The holotype specimen was collected in 1979 on New Ireland, in the Bismarck Archipelago. It was described as a new species in 1983. The range of the species may extend to other islands, however the extent of the range is not presently known.
Wikipedia contributors, Demonic tube-nosed fruit bat; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T12:47:56.037243+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Nyctimene masalai Smith & Hood, 1983
- Name authority
- Smith & Hood, 1983
- Common name
- Demonic Tube-nosed Fruit Bat
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Chiroptera
- Family
- Pteropodidae
- Genus
- Nyctimene
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
- subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
- infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
- orderChiroptera Blumenbach, 1779
- suborderYinpterochiroptera Springer, Teeling, Madsen, Stanhope & Jong, 2001
- familyPteropodidae Gray, 1821
- subfamilyNyctimeninae Miller, 1907
- genusNyctimene Borkhausen, 1797
- speciesNyctimene masalai Smith & Hood, 1983
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Nyctimene. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Broad-striped Tube-nosed Fruit BatNyctimene aello (Thomas, 1900) | PteropodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Common Tube-nosed Fruit BatNyctimene albiventer (Gray, 1863) | PteropodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Pallas's Tube-nosed Fruit BatNyctimene cephalotes (Pallas, 1767) | PteropodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Dragon Tube-nosed Fruit BatNyctimene draconilla Thomas, 1915 | PteropodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Keast's Tube-nosed Fruit BatNyctimene keasti Kitchener in Kitchener, Packer & Maryanto, 1993 | PteropodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Island Tube-nosed Fruit BatNyctimene major (Dobson, 1877) | PteropodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Mountain Tube-nosed Fruit BatNyctimene certans K. Andersen, 1912 | PteropodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Malaita Tube-nosed Fruit BatNyctimene malaitensis Phillips, 1968 | PteropodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Philippine Tube-nosed Fruit BatNyctimene rabori Heaney & Peterson, 1984 | PteropodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Queensland Tube-nosed Fruit BatNyctimene robinsoni Thomas, 1904 | PteropodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Umboi Tube-nosed Fruit BatNyctimene vizcaccia Thomas, 1914 | PteropodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- Smith, James Dale, and Craig S. Hood. (1983). A new species of tube-nosed bat (Nyctimene) from the Bismark Archipelago, Papua New Guinea. Occasional Papers of the Museum of Texas Tech University, No. 81. Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:485LL. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.