Morphological variation in the dentition and some cranial characters of the Australian ghost bat,
Macroderma gigas, is reviewed by means of univariate and multivariate analyses. Specimens examined
are drawn from existing populations across northern Australia; also included for parts of this study
are mummified remains from southern central South Australia and late Pleistocene subfossil specimens
from south-western Western Australia. No clear-cut geographic pattern in morphological variation
in M. gigas is indicated by multivariate anlysis (i.e. principal components analysis), although there
is some evidence for clinal variation from univariate analysis (i.e. Scheffe's multiple-comparions
procedure). Northern Australian ghost bats (with the exception of north-eastern Australian indiv~duals)
tend to be smaller than their southern counterparts. Sexual dimorphism appears to be low. Independent
patterns of covariation among characters are extracted by principal components analysis: cheek tooth
widths cluster separately from lengths; lengths and widths of the same teeth cluster separately from
those of occluding teeth; and cranial measurements cluster separately from tooth measurements. Patterns
in the data suggest that the number of characters needed to be examined in future morphometric
studies of the vulnerable ghost bat can be significantly reduced.