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A new genus of vespertilionid bat: the end of a long journey for Joffre's Pipistrelle (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae).

ABSTRACT: Knowledge as to the taxonomic status of enigmatic bat species often is hindered by limited availability of specimens. This is particularly true for aerial-hawking bats that are difficult to catch. One such species, "Hypsugo" joffrei, was originally described in Nyctalus due to its long and slender wings, but subsequently transferred to Pipistrellus, and most recently to Hypsugo, on the basis of morphology. Analysis of newly available material, which more than doubles the known specimens of this taxon, demonstrates that it is morphologically and genetically distinct from all other bat genera. We accordingly describe it as belonging to a new, monotypic genus. We provide a detailed description of its external and craniodental traits, measurements, and assessment of genetic relationships, including barcode sequences to facilitate its rapid identification in future. The new genus belongs to a group that includes the recently described Cassistrellus, as well as Tylonycteris, and its closest relative, Philetor. We also describe the echolocation calls emitted by members of the taxon in different situations, which may facilitate finding them in previously unsampled locations. Based on the new data, the species occurs from Nepal to North Vietnam and China, which suggests that it could be more widespread than previously thought.

SUBMITTER: Gorfol T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7236909 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A new genus of vespertilionid bat: the end of a long journey for Joffre's Pipistrelle (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae).

Görföl Tamás T Kruskop Sergei V SV Tu Vuong Tan VT Estók Péter P Son Nguyen Truong NT Csorba Gábor G

Journal of mammalogy 20200215 2

Knowledge as to the taxonomic status of enigmatic bat species often is hindered by limited availability of specimens. This is particularly true for aerial-hawking bats that are difficult to catch. One such species, "Hypsugo" joffrei, was originally described in Nyctalus due to its long and slender wings, but subsequently transferred to Pipistrellus, and most recently to Hypsugo, on the basis of morphology. Analysis of newly available material, which more than d ...[more]

PMID: 32454533

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Project description:BackgroundTwo or more species are cryptic, if they are morphologically similar, biologically distinct, and misclassified as a single species. Cryptic species complexes were recently discovered within many bat species and we suspect that the bent-wing bat, Miniopterus schreibersii, found in Europe, northern Africa, and Asia Minor, could also form such a complex. Populations of M. schreibersii decline in most of the European countries and the species is currently listed as Near Threatened in the IUCN Red List. Finding that M. schreibersii is not a single species, but a species complex, would have a considerable impact on its conservation strategies, as the abundance of each component taxon would be much smaller than the one estimated for the nominal species.ResultsMiniopterus schreibersii in Asia Minor consists of two genetically diverged lineages, which are reciprocally monophyletic on three mitochondrial DNA markers, have a diagnostic set of multilocus allele frequencies, and show a marked difference in their population structures. The lineages differ slightly in their size, wing shape, and echolocation call parameters. Although these differences are sufficient to discriminate between the lineages, they are not fully diagnostic in reference to individuals. We suggest that the lineages endured the major Northern Hemisphere glaciations in different glacial refugia and colonized Asia Minor after the last glacial maximum. The lineages are allopatric, which is neither delineated by the presence of geographical barriers nor associated with the specific climatic conditions, and which we link to competitive exclusion.ConclusionsThe distinctions between the lineages comply with most of the criteria required for species delineation imposed by various species concepts. Accordingly, we conclude that M. schreibersii in Asia Minor is represented by two cryptic species. Our results imply that the distributional range of the nominal species is almost exclusively limited to Europe and the coastal zones of Asia Minor. As populations of M. schreibersii seem to be much smaller than currently assumed, conservation strategies regarding this taxon need to be revised. The exact distributional range and the vulnerability of the suggested sister species to M. schreibersii is yet to be assessed.

Dataset Information

A new genus of vespertilionid bat: the end of a long journey for Joffre's Pipistrelle (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae).

Publications

A new genus of vespertilionid bat: the end of a long journey for Joffre's Pipistrelle (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae).

Similar Datasets

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