CreatureData

Small flying fox

Pteropus hypomelanus Temminck, 1853

NTNear Threatenedbats

The small flying fox (Pteropus hypomelanus) is a species in the family Pteropodidae, order Chiroptera. Recorded adults weigh 425 g to 450 g and live up to 20.2 years. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Near Threatened.

Small flying fox (Pteropus hypomelanus)
Photo: Pavel Kirillov · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the small flying fox

Weight
425 g – 450 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
20.2 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet
Frugivoresrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan
20.3 years
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Gestation
156 dayssrc for Gestation
Young per litter or clutch
1src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity
12 months – 12.4 monthssrc for Age at maturity
Litters or clutches a year
1src for Litters or clutches a year
Active
At night (nocturnal)src for Active
Lifestyle
Arborealsrc for Lifestyle
Conservation status
Near Threatened (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
1 countrysrc for Countries on record

Where does the small 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 small flying fox is listed for 1 country.

Australia
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Australia

Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.

What is the small flying fox?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The small flying fox, island flying fox or variable flying fox (Pteropus hypomelanus) is a species of flying fox in the family Pteropodidae. It is found in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Maldives, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines the Solomon Islands, Thailand and Vietnam.

From the Wikipedia article “Small flying fox” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Small_flying_fox&oldid=1384655955), 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 small flying fox endangered?

The small flying fox is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List: it is close to qualifying as threatened.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Near Threatened species.

How is the small flying fox classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classMammalia
  4. orderChiroptera
  5. familyPteropodidae
  6. genusPteropus
  7. SpeciesPteropus hypomelanus Temminck, 1853

Synonyms Pteropus tricolor, Pteropus vulcanius

Other names and names in other languages (22)
  • Island flying foxEnglish
  • Island flying foxEnglish
  • Small flying-foxEnglish
  • Small flying-foxEnglish
  • Variable flying foxEnglish
  • Variable flying foxEnglish
  • Variable flying-foxEnglish
  • Variable flying-foxEnglish
  • kaloň pobřežníCzech
  • Insel-FlughundGerman
  • InselflugfuchsGerman
  • Zorro Volador PequeSpanish
  • Zorro Volador PequeñoSpanish
  • atollilenkkoFinnish
  • Volpe volante variabileItalian
  • ヒメオオコウモリJapanese
  • 작은날여우박쥐Korean
  • Keluang PulauMalay
  • Rudawka zmiennaPolish
  • Малая летучая лисицаRussian
  • ค้างคาวแม่ไก่เกาะThai
  • 小狐蝠Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the small flying fox

Other species in the same genus Pteropus.

CompareSmall flying fox vs Large flying foxSmall flying fox vs Giant fruit batSmall flying fox vs Livingstone's fruit batSmall flying fox vs Mariana fruit bat

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the small flying fox?

An adult small flying fox weighs 425 g – 450 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the small flying fox live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the small flying fox for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

Is the small flying fox endangered?

The small flying fox is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is close to qualifying as threatened.

How long does the small flying fox live?

The small flying fox has a recorded lifespan of 20.2 years.

How long is the small flying fox pregnant?

The recorded gestation period is 156 days.

What kind of animal is the small flying fox?

The small flying fox (Pteropus hypomelanus) 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.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Small flying fox (Pteropus hypomelanus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/small-flying-fox

MLA

“Small flying fox (Pteropus hypomelanus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/small-flying-fox.

BibTeX
@misc{small_flying_fox_2026,
  title = {Small flying fox (Pteropus hypomelanus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/small-flying-fox},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}