The Ryukyu flying fox (Pteropus dasymallus)—A review of conservation threats and call for reassessment

The conservation status of the Ryukyu flying fox (Pteropus dasymallus), a solitary island fruit bat inhabiting the Ryukyu archipelago in Japan, Green Island and Turtle Island in Taiwan, and some islands of the Batanes and Babuyan chain in the Philippines, was last assessed by the IUCN in 2008, when it was upgraded from Endangered (EN) to Near Threatened (NT). We review here the current status of P. dasymallus through a description of the perceived demographic trends of its different subspecies as well as the current threat factors that it faces. Important amendments to the initial assessment are advanced, such as a less pronounced consideration of the Philippine population, whose size seems much smaller than once expected. Coupled with new elements that were only recently reported (i.e. natural risks, such as typhoons and volcanic activity, as well as direct anthropogenic threats in the form of ongoing culling by farmers in Japan), these lead us to call for a prompt relisting of P. dasymallus to a higher threat level.