0, pp. 35-40 24 March 1967 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON A NEW SUBSPECIES OF HORSESHOE BAT (HIPPOSIDEROS DIADEM A) FROM THE SOLOMON ISLANDS By Carleton J. Phillips Museum of Natural History, The University of Kansas In Hill's ( 1963; 109^111 ) revision of the genus Hipposideros he recognized 16 subspecies of H. diadema (fi. Geoffroy). This species occurs from the Asiatic mainland southeastward into the Solomon Island group. Five subspecies of H. diadema are known from the immediate region of the Solomon Islands: two from islands in the Solomon group; one from Manus Island (Admiralty Islands) northwest of the Solomons; one from Kiriwina Island (Trobriand Islands) and one from New Guinea, both west of the Solomons (Fig. 1). In 1964, four specimens of an unnamed subspecies were collected at Dala on Malaita Island by members of an ex-pedition from the Bemice P. Bishop Museum. All four were preserved in 70 percent alcohol for about a year. Then the crania were extracted and cleaned and the skins of two were prepared as dried study specimens. These bats are slightly smaller than Hipposideros diadema oceanitis Andersen (1905), known from Choiseul, Guadalcanal, Vella Lavella, Fauroi Santa Ysabel, and Bougainville islands in the Solomons, but slightly larger than Hipposideros diadema demissus Andersen (1909), known from San Christobal Island in the Solomons (see Laurie and Hill, 1954: 57-58; Hill, 1963: 100-111), and may be named and described as follows: Hipposideros diadema malaitensis new subspecies Holotype. Adult female, skin and skull, in good condition (originally stored in alcohol for about one year), no. BBM-BSIP 24121, Bemice P. Bishop Museum; from Dala (lat. 8°30'S, long. 160°42'E)' Malaita Island, British Solomon Islands Protectorate; obtained on 4 July 1964 by Peter Shanahan, original no. 300. 7— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. 80, 1967 (35)
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