List of mammals of American Samoa - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

This is a list of the mammal species recorded in American Samoa. There are 8 mammal species in American Samoa

American Samoa

American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the sovereign state of Samoa...

, of which 0 are critically endangered, 1 is endangered, 2 are vulnerable, and 0 are near-threatened.

The following tags are used to highlight each species' conservation status as assessed by the IUCN

World Conservation Union

The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources is an international organization dedicated to finding "pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges." The organization publishes the IUCN Red List, compiling information from a network of...

EX	Extinct	No reasonable doubt that the last individual has died.
EW	Extinct in the wild	Known only to survive in captivity or as a naturalized populations well outside its previous range.
CR	Critically Endangered	The species is in imminent risk of extinction in the wild.
EN	Endangered	The species is facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.
VU	Vulnerable	The species is facing a high risk of extinction in the wild.
NT	Near Threatened	The species does not meet any of the criteria that would categorise it as risking extinction but it is likely to do so in the future.
LC	Least Concern	There are no current identifiable risks to the species.
DD	Data Deficient	There is inadequate information to make an assessment of the risks to this species.

Some species were assessed using an earlier set of criteria. Species assessed using this system have the following instead of Near Threatened and Least Concern categories:

LR/cd	Lower Risk/conservation dependent	Species which were the focus of conservation programmes and may have moved into a higher risk category if that programme was discontinued.
LR/nt	Lower Risk/near threatened	Species which are close to being classified as Vulnerable but are not the subject of conservation programmes.
LR/lc	Lower Risk/least concern	Species for which there are no identifiable risks.

Order: Chiroptera (bats)

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The bats' most distinguishing feature is that their forelimbs are developed as wings, making them the only mammals in the world naturally capable of flight. Bat species account for about 20% of all mammals.

Family: Pteropodidae (flying foxes, Old World fruit bats)
- Subfamily: Pteropodinae
  Pteropodinae
  Pteropodinae is a subfamily of megabats. Species within this subfamily are:Subfamily Pteropodinae* Genus Acerodon**Sulawesi Flying Fox, Acerodon celebensis**Talaud Flying Fox, Acerodon humilis...
  - Genus: Pteropus
    Pteropus
    Bats of the genus Pteropus, belonging to the megabat or Megachiroptera sub-order, are the largest bats in the world. They are commonly known as the fruit bats or flying foxes among other colloquial names...
    - Samoa Flying-fox
      Samoa Flying-fox
      The Samoa Flying Fox or Samoan Flying Fox is a species of megabat in the Pteropodidae family. It is found in American Samoa, Fiji, and Samoa. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests...
      
      Pteropus samoensis VU
    - Insular Flying-fox
      Insular Flying-fox
      The Insular Flying Fox or Pacific Flying Fox is a species of megabat in the Pteropodidae family. It is found in American Samoa, the Cook Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu.-References:* Hamilton, S. & Helgen, K. 2008. . Downloaded...
      
      Pteropus tonganus LR/lc
Family: Vespertilionidae
- Subfamily: Myotinae
  - Genus: Myotis
    - Insular Myotis
      Insular Myotis
      The Insular Myotis is a species of vesper bat in the Vespertilionidae family.It is found in possibly American Samoa and possibly Samoa.-References:* Chiroptera Specialist Group 1996. . Downloaded on 19 July 2007....
      
      Myotis insularum DD
Family: Emballonuridae
- Genus: Emballonura
  Emballonura
  Emballonura is a genus of sac-winged bat in the family Emballonuridae.It contains the following species:* Small Asian Sheath-tailed Bat * Peters's Sheath-tailed Bat...
  - Polynesian Sheath-tailed Bat Emballonura semicaudata EN

Order: Cetacea
Cetacea
The order Cetacea includes the marine mammals commonly known as whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Cetus is Latin and is used in biological names to mean "whale"; its original meaning, "large sea animal", was more general. It comes from Ancient Greek , meaning "whale" or "any huge fish or sea...

(whales)

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The order Cetacea includes whale

Whale

Whale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises, which belong to suborder Odontoceti . This suborder also includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga...

s, dolphin

Dolphin

Dolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in 17 genera. They vary in size from and , up to and . They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating...

s and porpoise

Porpoise

Porpoises are small cetaceans of the family Phocoenidae; they are related to whales and dolphins. They are distinct from dolphins, although the word "porpoise" has been used to refer to any small dolphin, especially by sailors and fishermen...

s. They are the mammals most fully adapted to aquatic

Aquatic adaptation

Several animal groups have undergone aquatic adaptation, going from being purely terrestrial animals to living at least part of the time in water. The adaptations in early speciation tend to develop as the animal ventures into water in order to find available food. As successive generations spend...

life with a spindle-shaped nearly hairless body, protected by a thick layer of blubber, and forelimbs and tail modified to provide propulsion underwater.

Suborder: Mysticeti
- Family: Balaenopteridae
  - Subfamily: Megapterinae
    - Genus: Megaptera
      - Humpback Whale
        Humpback Whale
        The humpback whale is a species of baleen whale. One of the larger rorqual species, adults range in length from and weigh approximately . The humpback has a distinctive body shape, with unusually long pectoral fins and a knobbly head. It is an acrobatic animal, often breaching and slapping the...
        
        Megaptera novaeangliae VU
Suborder: Odontoceti
- Superfamily: Platanistoidea
  - Family: Ziphidae
    - Subfamily: Hyperoodontidae
      - Genus: Mesoplodon
        
        Ginkgo-toothed Beaked Whale
        Ginkgo-toothed Beaked Whale
        The ginkgo-toothed beaked whale is a poorly known species of whale even for a beaked whale, and was named for the unusual shape of its dual teeth...
        
        Mesoplodon ginkgodens DD
  - Family: Delphinidae (marine dolphins)
    - Genus: Stenella
      Stenella
      Stenella is a genus of aquatic mammals in Delphinidae, the family informally known as the oceanic dolphins.Currently five species are recognised in this genus:*Pantropical Spotted Dolphin, S. attenuata*Atlantic Spotted Dolphin, S. frontalis...
      - Spinner Dolphin
        Spinner Dolphin
        The Spinner Dolphin is a small dolphin found in off-shore tropical waters around the world. It is famous for its acrobatic displays in which they spin longitudinally along their axis as they leap through the air.-Taxonomy:...
        
        Stenella longirostris LR/cd
    - Genus: Lagenodelphis
      - Fraser's Dolphin
        Fraser's Dolphin
        Fraser's Dolphin or Sarawak Dolphin is a cetacean in the family Delphinidae found in deep waters in the Pacific Ocean and to a lesser extent in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans.-Taxonomy:...
        
        Lagenodelphis hosei DD

Order: Chiroptera (bats)

See also