Large flying fox fox was one of the many mammal species originally described by Linnaeus in the landmark 1758 10th edition of his "Systema Naturae", receiving the name "Vespertilio vampyrus". The large flying fox is among the largest species of bat. It weighs and has a wingspan of up to . Its head-body length is . As with all megabats, it has a fox-like face, hence its name. It lacks a tail and has pointed ears. The hairs on much of its body are long and woolly, but are shorter and more erect on the upper back. The mantle hairs tend to be
Andersen's flying fox was described as a new species in 1908 by Danish mammalogist Knud Andersen. The holotype had been collected by William Ruxton Davison and presented to Andersen by Allan Octavian Hume. There is taxonomic uncertainty regarding this species: some have published that it is likely synonymous with the Indian flying fox while other have published that it is synonymous with the large flying fox. Its species name ""intermedius"" is Latin for "intermediate;" Andersen may have chosen that name because he compared it to both the Indian flying fox and the large flying fox. Andersen wrote that it was "scarcely distinguishable" from