Aru flying fox Aru flying fox The Aru flying fox ("Pteropus aruensis") is a Critically Endangered species of megabat found in the Aru Islands in Indonesia. It was described by Wilhelm Peters in 1867. It was formerly considered a subspecies of the black-bearded flying fox. The species is poorly known, and has not been encountered since the 19th century. It is classified as critically endangered by the IUCN and is listed on CITES appendix II. As the Pteropus genus is quite speciose, it is further divided into species groups. The Aru flying fox is placed in the "livingstonii" species group.Other members of this
Indian flying fox fox, "P. poliocephalus". As the genus "Pteropus" is divided into closely related species groups, the Indian flying fox is placed in the "vampyrus" species group, which also includes the Bonin, Ryukyu, little golden-mantled, Rodrigues, large, Lyle's, Aldabra, Madagascan, Seychelles, and Mauritian flying foxes. There are currently three recognized subspecies of the Indian flying fox: "P. g. ariel" (G. M. Allen, 1908), "P. g. giganteus" (Brünnich, 1782), and "P. g. leucocephalus" (Hodgson, 1835). The Indian flying fox is found across South Asia, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, China (Tibet), Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It roosts in large, established colonies