Black-eared flying fox to the ground, particularly in the exotic shrub of "Muntingia calabura"; (3) a failure to respond in an appropriate manner to the approach of potential predators. (On Christmas Island "P. melanotus" has no predators other than man.)" On Christmas Island, the bat is also predated by feral cats. Black-eared flying fox The black-eared flying fox ("Pteropus melanotus"), also known as Blyth's flying fox and Christmas Island flying fox, is a species of bat in the family Pteropodidae. It is found on Christmas Island (Australia), Andaman Islands (India), Nicobar Islands (India), and Sumatra (Indonesia). The population on Christmas Island, which is
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