Samoa flying fox a luxury food item, but a stop was put to that trade when it was listed in Appendix I of CITES in 1990. This made it illegal to export it, and hunting since then has been on a smaller scale and only for domestic use. It is present in some national parks and other protected areas which gives it some measure of protection. The Samoan word for the flying fox fruit bat, "pe'a", is also the name of the traditional Samoan male tattoo. In Samoan and Polynesian mythologies, stories, myths, proverbs, and legends are associated with this winged creature. One
Insular flying fox 5 cyclovirus and 14 gemycircularvirus novel species. Three of the viruses were sampled in consecutive years and six were found at multiple sites indicating that they are persistently associated with insular flying fox colonies. Insular flying fox The insular flying fox or Pacific flying fox ("Pteropus tonganus") is a species of flying fox in the family Pteropodidae. It is geographically widespread, the most widespread flying fox in the Pacific: it is found in American Samoa, the Cook Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa (where it is called "pe'a fanua, pe'a fai" and "taulaga"), the Solomon Islands, Tonga,