Andersen's flying fox

Andersen's flying fox (Pteropus intermedius) is a species of flying fox in the family Pteropodidae, known from southern Myanmar and western Thailand. The Danish mammalogist Knud Andersen described it as a new species in 1908 and it carries his name; the holotype was collected at Moulmein by William Ruxton Davison and passed to Andersen by Allan Octavian Hume. Andersen found it scarcely distinguishable from the Indian flying fox in skull, teeth and external form, separating it mainly by a seal brown breast and belly, and its forearm is about 180 mm long. Its validity is doubtful: some authors treat it as a synonym of the Indian flying fox and others of the large flying fox, and the IUCN calls the species dubious. It roosts in tall trees in urban areas, flies several kilometres to eat wild and cultivated fruit, and is hunted for food and as a pest. It was last recorded in Thailand in 1970, a small population probably survives in Myanmar, and the IUCN lists it as data deficient.