Little red flying fox Little red flying fox The little red flying fox ("Pteropus scapulatus") is a species of megabat native to northern and eastern Australia. With a weight of , it is the smallest flying fox in mainland Australia (the others being the black, spectacled, and grey-headed flying foxes). It has the widest range of all the species, going much further inland than the larger fruit bats. Its diet primarily consists of nectar and pollen of eucalypt blossoms, the pollination of which it is largely responsible. The little red flying fox is nomadic, and can be found in large groups of up to
Indian flying fox a new name for a species that had already been described—"Vespertilio vampyrus" which is now "Pteropus vampyrus" (the large flying fox). Mlíkovský made several points in his argument, all with a foundation in the nomenclature rule known as Principle of Priority. The Principle of Priority posits that the first formal, published scientific name given to a species shall be the name that is used. Because Brünnich was attempting to rename the large flying fox in his 1782 publication, his name should not apply to either the large or the Indian flying fox—an older name was in existence, and therefore the