Range Description

This species is endemic to the island of New Guinea (Papua New Guinea only). It was first described from 12,000 year old fossil remains. In 1975, living animals were discovered at the Luplupwintem cave, close to the edge of the Hindenburg Wall, in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea. Later surveys suggested that the species had been extirpated from the Luplupwintem site, and visits to the roost over the course of a decade did not record any bats. In 1992, Flannery and Seri (1993) counted 137 bats leaving this cave, and subsequently, in 1993, 160 bats were recorded leaving the roost. In the 1980s and 1990s the species was recorded from two sites in the Star Mountains region where the species is no longer known, and recently hunted remains were collected in Eastern Highlands Province in 1995 at the locality of Huavegemu Cave near the village of Herowana, and nearby two more individuals have been recently recorded (D. Wright pers. comm.). It is possible that additional populations of this species are present in eastern Papua Province, Indonesia, where there is suitable habitat and a low human population density (Bonaccorso 1998). It has been recorded as living and fossil populations between 1,400 and 2,400 m asl (Bonaccorso 1998).