Most of the detailed information on roosting and feeding habitat is based on studies from the Wet Tropics region of Australia. Further research is required in the northern areas of the range extending into PNG and Indonesia.

Pteropus conspicillatus is found in a range of habitats including Melaleuca swamp forest, wet and dry sclerophyll forests and woodlands, mangrove, tropical savannah and tropical moist forests (Duncan et al. 1999). It has been recorded in primary and disturbed native vegetation, and in agricultural and urban areas. The species roosts in colonies ranging in size from hundreds to thousands of individuals (Bonaccorso 1998, DERM 2010, T. Leary pers. comm.). Roost sizes in Australia are typically larger than in PNG and Indonesia. Recent telemetry studies in the Wet Tropics have shown a low level of solitary roosting (Westcott and McKeown 2014). There is evidence that the proportion of animals in urban roost sites is increasing (Tait et al. 2014), although the overall population is in decline. P. conspicillatus usually forms single-species colonies, although it occasionally co-roosts with P. scapulatus and small numbers of P. hypomelanus and P. alecto at a limited number of sites (Bonaccorso 1998, Parsons et al. 2010). In both Australia and PNG roosts can have a long history, >80 years for some e.g., Tolga and >20 years for many others (e.g., Gordonvale in Australia and Lae and Madang in PNG). This species disperses widely and will occupy new, often temporary, roost sites, particularly following cyclones (Shilton et al. 2008).

The diet is comprised primarily of floral and fruit resources obtained in a broad variety of habitats, with nectar and pollen from myrtaceous plants and fruit from Moraceae (e.g., Ficus) being the dominant taxa (Parsons et al. 2006, DERM 2010).

Reproduction is seasonal and synchronous throughout the Australian range (Shilton et al. 2008). Females give birth to a single young between October and December and mating occurs between March and May (Martin et al. 1996, Hall and Richards 2000, Shilton et al. 2008). The timing of reproduction outside of Australia has not been systematically examined, but is believed to be similar (Flannery 1995a,b). Although some births have been observed during July and early August in Madang, PNG (Bonaccorso 1998).

Results from population monitoring, genetic and telemetry studies in the Wet Tropics indicate frequent movement by individuals between roosts both daily and seasonally (Westcott et al. 2001, Parsons 2005, Fox 2006, Shilton et al. 2008, Westcott et al. 2015). Telemetry studies suggest that individual P. conspicillatus likely range over much of the Wet Tropics during their life time and individuals are known to fly up to 50 km from their roost in a single night to feed, with longer distance movements between roosts recorded over one and several nights (Westcott et al. 2015). Movements between PNG and Australia have not been shown, but could possibly occur.

This species has been recorded from the Moluccan Archipelago of Indonesia (including the islands of Halmahera, Bacan, Obi, Misool, and Gebe), it is present on Salawati Island (Indonesia), Waigeo Island, Biak and Yapen islands (Indonesia), coastal areas of the island of New Guinea (Irian Jaya, Indonesia and PNG), the D’Entrecasteaux Islands (PNG), and the Louisade Archipelago (PNG). In Australia it ranges patchily from Cape York (Iron and McIllwraith Ranges), to the Wet Tropics Bioregion and through to coastal central Queensland between Mackay and Rockhampton (Flannery 1995a,b; Bonaccorso 1998; Wiantoro 2011), with the main Australian population in the Wet Tropics (Shilton et al. 2008, Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) 2010). Records in PNG and Indonesia are from coastal lowland habitats (<200 m) except for one feeding observation at 1,000 m asl (Flannery 1995b, Bonaccorso 1998, Wiantoro 2011). In Australia it roosts and feeds at low to mid altitudes (generally <750 m) and has been found feeding as high as 1,100 m (D. Westcott and A. McKeown pers. comm.).

Approximately 64 roost sites have been identified in the Wet Tropics of Australia, but on average only 10 are occupied in any month of the year (Tait et al. 2014, Westcott et al. 2018). In the Iron and McIllwrath Ranges of Northern Australia very small numbers (<1000) have been recorded irregularly, with no identified permanent roosts (Fox 2011, D. Westcott and S. Fox pers. comm.). In the Torres Strait there is one report of a juvenile P. conspicillatus skull from Nepean Island (Anderson 1912), however recent reviews of the literature and surveys have failed to confirm any additional records of this species through the area (Lavery et al. 2012). In Indonesia and PNG less is known about the distribution and occurrence of species, but the species appears to roost in small numbers in coastal lowlands (Bonaccorso 1998, Wiantoro 2011). A continuously occupied roost of several thousand P. conspicillatus occurs in the township of Madang PNG (B. Roberts pers. obs).

A range of threats have been identified for P. conspicillatus. Key threats include habitat loss, exploitation, harassment at roosts, electrocution, shooting in orchards, and tick paralysis (Westcott et al. 2001, DERM 2010, Dennis 2012, Woinarski et al. 2014).

Decline of P. conspicillatus in Australia has been associated with habitat loss, and persecution such as electrocution and shooting at orchards (Garnett et al. 1999, DERM 2010). The impact of lethal crop protection is believed to have decreased in recent years with prohibition of high voltage electricity grids and with the wide-spread adoption of canopy netting on orchards. However, permits to shoot flying-foxes for commercial crop protection were re-instated by the Queensland government in 2012 after a four-year ban. Rates of clearing of rainforest in the coastal and upland areas in the majority of the Wet Tropics Bioregion have been reduced and are no longer significant (Queensland Herbarium 2014, D. Westcott pers. comm.). However, there has been an intensification of agriculture on the dry western margins of the range and an increase in clearing of sclerophyll vegetation types important for the species in these areas (Queensland Herbarium 2014, D. Westcott pers. comm). Habitat loss for human development impacts coastal areas and plateaus. Recent escalation in rates of transition of sclerophyll vegetation types to closed rainforest has been documented and attributed to changed fire management regimes (Stanton et al. 2014).

Conflict between humans and P. conspicillatus in built up areas appears to be growing as the proportion of the population using roosts in urban areas increases (Tait et al. 2014). Methods for ameliorating conflict typically include modification or removal of roosting vegetation and the use of noise and other disturbances to disperse animals away from human occupied areas. The long-term impact of dispersals on P. conspicillatus is unknown. However, conflict at roosts hinders conservation measures.

More recently, tick paralysis has been identified as an increasing threat to the species (Fox et al. 2008, Fox 2011, Buettner et al. 2013). Buettner et al. (2013) found that mortality varied between years, with more adult females affected than males.

Pteropus conspicillatus are also threatened by mortality from entanglement in backyard drape netting, collision and entanglement in barbed-wire fences, electrocution on power lines, cleft palate and other birth deformities (Richards et al. 2008, Shilton et al. 2008, DERM 2010, J. Maclean pers. comm.).

The impact of climate change is unclear but is likely to increase the severity of cyclones and other extreme weather (i.e., heat events) that can kill large numbers and impact the feeding and roosting habitat of the species (DERM 2010). The recent invasion of myrtle rust and tramp ants (electric and yellow crazy ants) into the Wet Tropics region is also a concern for the future status of Wet Tropics species (Metcalfe et al. 2014). In PNG and Indonesia, the range of P. conspicillatus is typically confined to coastal lowlands and islands. These areas are most densely populated by people and subject to the most rapid land use change as documented by remote sensing (Hansen et al. 2013, Stibig et al. 2014). Increasing rates of habitat loss or modification through residential expansion and the clearing of large tracts of forests for expanding oil palm production continue to be a major threat to the species (T. Leary pers. comm.). Logging operations are also expanding in the range of P. conspicillatus, particularly in the West Papua province of Indonesia and the Madang and Morobe provinces of PNG (Stibig et al. 2014). Hunting is another significant threat as flying-foxes are an important food source for many communities and sold as food at local markets (Mack and West 2005, S. Hamilton and T. Leary pers. comm., B. Roberts pers. obs). In both Madang and Lae, P. conspicillatus are hunted and disturbed on an almost daily basis (T. Leary pers. comm, B. Roberts pers. obs.).
The impacts of these threats combined with the species’s low reproductive output (Fox et al. 2008) and the population’s low estimated average exponential rate of increase (Westcott et al. 2018) highlight the likelihood of continual decline into the projected future.