Lesser flying fox
Pteropus mahaganus Sanborn, 1931
The lesser flying fox (Pteropus mahaganus) is a species in the family Pteropodidae, order Chiroptera. Recorded adults weigh 251.4 g to 297.3 g. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
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Quick facts about the lesser flying fox
- Weight
- 251.4 g – 297.3 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Frugivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Arborealsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
Where does the lesser flying fox live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The lesser flying fox is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the lesser flying fox?
The lesser flying fox or Sanborn's flying fox (Pteropus mahaganus) is a species of flying fox in the family Pteropodidae. It is found in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. The species is poorly known, but is believed to inhabit coastal lowlands, including tropical rainforest. Although the species has been found plantations, the habitat of the species is fragmented by increasing agriculture and logging.
From the Wikipedia article “Lesser flying fox” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lesser_flying_fox&oldid=1326734200), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the lesser flying fox endangered?
The lesser flying fox is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the lesser flying fox classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderChiroptera
- familyPteropodidae
- genusPteropus
- SpeciesPteropus mahaganus Sanborn, 1931
Other names and names in other languages (16)
- Lesser flying-foxEnglish
- Lesser flying-foxEnglish
- Sanborn's flying foxEnglish
- Sanborn's flying foxEnglish
- Sanborn's flying fox.English
- Sanborn’s flying foxEnglish
- kaloň mahagonovýCzech
- Kleiner FlugfuchsGerman
- Zorro Volador De BougainvilleSpanish
- bougainvillenlenkkoFinnish
- Volpe volante di SanbornItalian
- マハガンオオコウモリJapanese
- 샌본날여우박쥐Korean
- 작은날여우박쥐Korean
- Rudawka mahagańskaPolish
- Махаганская летучая лисицаRussian
Relatives of the lesser flying fox
Other species in the same genus Pteropus.
Large flying fox
Pteropus vampyrus
Giant fruit bat
Pteropus medius
Livingstone's fruit bat
Pteropus livingstonii
Mariana fruit bat
Pteropus mariannus
Rodrigues flying fox
Pteropus rodricensis
Samoa flying fox
Pteropus samoensis
CompareLesser flying fox vs Large flying foxLesser flying fox vs Giant fruit batLesser flying fox vs Livingstone's fruit batLesser flying fox vs Mariana fruit bat
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the lesser flying fox?
An adult lesser flying fox weighs 251.4 g – 297.3 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the lesser flying fox live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the lesser flying fox for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
Is the lesser flying fox endangered?
The lesser flying fox is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
What kind of animal is the lesser flying fox?
The lesser flying fox (Pteropus mahaganus) belongs to the family Pteropodidae in the order Chiroptera.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Lesser flying fox (Pteropus mahaganus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/lesser-flying-fox
“Lesser flying fox (Pteropus mahaganus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/lesser-flying-fox.
@misc{lesser_flying_fox_2026,
title = {Lesser flying fox (Pteropus mahaganus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/lesser-flying-fox},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}